4884 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 19 / Thursday, January 29, 2015 / Notices 

providing a programmatic analysis, 

NOAA intends to use this document to 

approve future site-specific actions, 

including grant actions, so long as the 

activity being proposed is within the 

range of alternatives and scope of 

potential environmental consequences 

considered within this NEPA analysis. 

Any future site-specific restoration 

activities proposed by NOAA that are 

not within the scope of alternatives or 

environmental consequences considered 

in this PEIS will require additional 

analysis under NEPA. 

NOAA has determined that two 

alternatives are reasonable and meet the 

purpose and need. These are Alternative 

1—Current Management and Alternative 

2—Technical Assistance. 

‘‘Current Management,’’ the No 

Action Alternative, is a comprehensive 

restoration approach that includes 

activities such as technical assistance, 

on-the-ground riverine and coastal 

habitat restoration activities, and land 

and water acquisition activities. For 

programmatic analyses of on-going 

programs, where program activities are 

being analyzed as opposed to a single 

specific project action, the No Action 

Alternative can be interpreted as ‘‘no 

change from current management’’ (CEQ 

40 Questions, 46 FR 18026 (March 23, 

1981). Riverine and coastal habitat 

restoration activities in this alternative 

include but are not limited to, fish 

passage projects; channel, bank and 

floodplain restoration; buffer area and 

watershed revegetation; saltmarsh 

restoration; oyster restoration; marine 

debris removal; submerged aquatic 

vegetation restoration; invasive species 

removal; and coral restoration. 

‘‘Technical Assistance’’ is an 

alternative approach that includes no 

on-the-ground restoration, and is 

limited to activities including project 

planning, modeling, feasibility studies, 

engineering and design studies, and 

permitting activities. 

Impacts Analysis: This DPEIS 

presents NOAA’s restoration activities 

and their environmental consequences 

grouped into three categories of 

restoration activities: Technical 

assistance; on-the-ground riverine and 

coastal habitat restoration activities; and 

land and water acquisition activities. 

All three of these restoration categories 

comprise the ‘‘Current Management’’ 

alternative. Technical assistance 

activities are typically minimallyintrusive, relatively low-cost and do not 

require extensive on-the-ground 

activities to be implemented. On-theground restoration activities include all 

of the physical riverine and coastal 

restoration that the NOAA RC supports. 

Land and water acquisition activities 

involve transactions of ownership, 

usage rights, or access. This alternative 

is anticipated to have typically longterm beneficial and short-term adverse 

impacts on the affected environment of 

various magnitudes and intensities, 

which are described in the DPEIS. 

The ‘‘Technical Assistance’’ 

alternative relies heavily, if not 

exclusively, on external sources of 

funding to conduct on-the-ground 

implementation. NOAA resources 

would only be focused on advisory or 

technical assistance aspects of the 

restoration work. The technical 

assistance activities would generally 

cause mostly indirect, long-term 

beneficial impacts, with short-term 

adverse impacts for more intrusive 

monitoring and sampling techniques. 

Request for Comment: The 

publication date of this notice 

constitutes the start of the comment 

period under NEPA for the PEIS. NOAA 

encourages all parties with an interest in 

or who are affected by habitat 

restoration activities to provide 

suggestions and comments. Comments 

are specifically requested regarding the 

alternatives, scope of analysis, 

assessment of impacts, and the process 

described in Appendix A for 

determining which future projects are 

covered by this analysis. For more 

detailed background information, 

including program descriptions, 

restoration project types, and the 

previously mentioned environmental 

assessment documents, please visit the 

NOAA Restoration Center Web site. 

Interested parties should provide 

written comments by March 20, 2015. 

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 661; 16 U.S.C. 1891a. 

Dated: January 26, 2015. 

Frederick C. Sutter, 

Director, Office of Habitat Conservation, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–01744 Filed 1–28–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XD724 

Fishing Capacity Reduction Program 

for the Pacific Coast Groundfish 

Fishery 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of loan repayment. 

SUMMARY: NMFS issues this notice to 

inform interested parties that the 

Oregon coastal Dungeness crab sub-loan 

in the fishing capacity reduction 

program for the Pacific Coast 

Groundfish Fishery has been repaid. 

Therefore, buyback fee collections on 

Oregon coastal Dungeness crab will 

cease for all landings after December 31, 

2014. 

DATES: Comments must be submitted on 

or before 5 p.m. EST February 13, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments about this 

notice to Paul Marx, Chief, Financial 

Services Division, NMFS, Attn: Oregon 

Coastal Dungeness Crab Buyback, 1315 

East-West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910 (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michael A. Sturtevant at (301) 427–8799 

or Michael.A.Sturtevant@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

November 16, 2004, NMFS published a 

Federal Register document (69 FR 

67100) proposing regulations to 

implement an industry fee system for 

repaying the reduction loan. The final 

rule was published July 13, 2005 (70 FR 

40225) and fee collection began on 

September 8, 2005. Interested persons 

should review these for further program 

details. 

The Oregon coastal Dungeness crab 

sub-loan of the Pacific Coast Groundfish 

Capacity Reduction (Buyback) loan in 

the amount of $1,367,545.28 will be 

repaid in full upon receipt of buyback 

fees on landings through December 31, 

2014. NMFS has received $2,117,701.75 

to repay the principal and interest on 

this sub-loan since fee collection began 

September 8, 2005. Based on buyback 

fees received to date, landings after 

December 31, 2014 will not be subject 

to the buyback fee. Therefore, buyback 

loan fees will no longer be collected in 

the Oregon coastal Dungeness crab 

fishery on future landings. 

Buyback fees not yet forwarded to 

NMFS for Oregon coastal Dungeness 

crab landings through December 31, 

2014 should be forwarded to NMFS 

immediately. Any overpayment of 

buyback fees submitted to NMFS will be 

refunded on a pro-rata basis to the fish 

buyers/processors based upon best 

available fish ticket landings data. The 

fish buyers/processors should return 

excess buyback fees collected to the 

harvesters, including buyback fees 

collected but not yet remitted to NMFS 

for landings after December 31, 2014. 

Any discrepancies in fees owed and fees 

paid must be resolved immediately. 

After the sub-loan is closed, no further 

adjustments to fees paid and fees 

received can be made. 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 19 / Thursday, January 29, 2015 / Notices 4885 

Dated: January 23, 2015. 

Basil Brown, 

Acting Director, Office of Management and 

Budget, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2015–01724 Filed 1–28–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Western Pacific Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meetings 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of public meetings. 

SUMMARY: The Eight Regional Fishery 

Management Councils (RFMCs) will 

convene a meeting of representatives of 

their respective Scientific and Statistical 

Committee (SSC) in Honolulu, HI. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

February 23, 2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 

5:30 p.m., February 24, 2015, from 8:30 

a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and February 25, 

2015, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Ala Moana Hotel Garden Lanai, 410 

Atkinson Drive, Honolulu, HI 96814. 

Host Council: Western Pacific Regional 

Fishery Management Council, 1164 

Bishop Street, Suite 1400, Honolulu, HI 

96813. For specific times and agendas, 

see SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kitty M. Simonds, Executive Director, 

Western Pacific Regional Fishery 

Management Council; telephone: (808) 

522–8220. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Magnuson Stevens Fishery Conservation 

and Management Act (MSA) requires 

that each Council maintain and utilize 

its SSCs to assist in the development, 

collection, evaluation, and peer review 

of information relevant to the 

development and amendment of fishery 

management plans (FMPs). In addition, 

the MSA mandates that each SSC shall 

provide its Council ongoing scientific 

advice for fishery management 

decisions, including recommendations 

for acceptable biological catch (ABC), 

preventing overfishing, maximum 

sustainable yield, and achieving 

rebuilding targets, and reports on stock 

status and health, bycatch, habitat 

status, social and economic impacts of 

management measures, and 

sustainability of fishing practices. The 

MSA also requires the Council to 

consider the ecosystem in managing the 

stocks in the FMPs. 

At its May 2014 meeting, the Council 

Coordination Committee (CCC; a group 

consisting of the leadership from the 

eight Regional Fishery Management 

Councils), recommended that a fifth 

National SSC Workshop be convened to 

address uncertainties, data-limited 

situations, and ecosystem 

considerations in the fishery 

management process and Ecosystems 

Based Fishery Management (EBFM). 

Therefore, the purpose of this meeting is 

to examine the approaches being taken 

around the United States by the Council 

SSCs in addressing biological and 

management uncertainties, data-limited 

stocks, habitat and ecological 

variabilities in EBFM with 

considerations of a changing climate. 

8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m., Monday, February 

23, 2015 

1. Welcome Remarks 

2. Introductions 

3. SUBTHEME 1.a: ABC Specification 

for Data-Limited and Model-Resistant 

Stocks 

A. Keynote Presentation: Managing 

data-poor fisheries down under 

B. Keynote Presentation: Progress and 

roadblocks in the estimation of 

stock status and catch limits for 

global fisheries 

C. Round Robin Session: Setting ABCs 

for data-limited/model-resistant 

stocks 

D. Preliminary Q&A to the presenters 

E. Plenary Discussion: ABC 

specification for data-limited and 

model-resistant stocks 

4. SUBTHEME 1.b: Implementation of 

National Standard 2 in the Face of 

Uncertainty 

A. Keynote Presentation: National 

Standard 2 in determining best 

scientific information available 

B. Plenary Discussion: 

Implementation of National 

Standard 2 in the face of 

uncertainties 

5. Develop Specific Recommendation to 

the CCC on Subtheme 1 

8:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m., Tuesday, February 

24, 2015 

6. SUBTHEME 2: Evaluating Existing 

ABC Control Rules: Issues, Challenges 

and Solutions 

A. Keynote Presentation: Addressing 

uncertainties in stock assessment in 

a variable environment 

B. Keynote Presentation: Use of 

Management Strategy Evaluation to 

assess performance of harvest 

control rules 

C. Keynote Presentation: Comparing 

performance among alternative ABC 

control rules 

D. Round Robin Session: Evaluation 

of the current ABC control rules 

(with emphasis on how each 

council monitors the performance 

of the control rules, issues, 

challenges, and solutions) 

E. Preliminary Q&A to the presenters 

F. Plenary Discussion: Evaluating 

existing ABC control rules: Issues, 

challenges and solutions 

7. Develop Specific Recommendation to 

the CCC for Subtheme 2 

8. SUBTHEME 3.a: Incorporating 

Ecological, Environmental, and 

Climate Variability in Stock 

Assessment and Ecosystem Based 

Fishery Management 

A. Keynote Presentation: 

Incorporating ecological, 

environmental, and climate 

considerations in stock assessments 

and ecosystem-based fishery 

management 

B. Plenary Discussion: Incorporating 

ecological, environmental, and 

climate variability in stock 

assessment and ecosystem based 

fishery management 

8:30 a.m.–5 p.m., Wednesday, February 

25, 2015 

C. Keynote presentation: Projecting 

climate change impacts on fish and 

fisheries 

D. Keynote presentation: Shifting 

species distribution with climate 

change 

E. Plenary Discussion: Incorporating 

ecological, environmental, and 

climatic variability in stock 

assessments and ecosystem based 

fishery management 

9. Develop Specific Recommendation to 

the CCC for Subtheme 3.a 

10. SUBTHEME 3.b: Building Habitat 

Condition in the Stock Assessment 

Process and Fishery Management 

Strategies 

A. Keynote Presentation: The Habitat 

Assessment Improvement Plan: 

Collecting the habitat data to 

enhance stock assessment 

B. Plenary Discussion: Building 

habitat condition in the stock 

assessment process and fishery 

management strategies 

C. Keynote Presentation: Aspects of 

Habitat of Particular Concern for 

fish population dynamics and 

fishery management 

D. Plenary Discussion: Building 

habitat condition in the stock 

assessment process and fishery 

management strategies 

11. Develop Specific Recommendation 

to the CCC for Subtheme 3.b 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before these groups for discussion, in 

accordance with the MSA, those issues 

mstockstill on DSK4VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES