Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Notices 15409 

Martin. USA–1 and USA–4 were most 

recently extended in 2017 (82 FR 42327, 

September 7, 2017). The current terms 

of Exploration Licenses USA–1 and 

USA–4 end on June 2, 2022. Section 

107(a) of DSHMRA provides that NOAA 

shall extend exploration licenses for a 

term of not more than five years if the 

licensee has substantially complied 

with the license and exploration plan 

and has requested an extension of the 

license. 30 U.S.C. 1417. 

Lockheed Martin has submitted this 

request to maintain its interests and 

rights under these exploration licenses. 

Lockheed Martin is not currently 

conducting at-sea activities under 

DSHMRA exploration licenses USA–1 

or USA–4, nor is the company 

proposing any such activities in this 

license extension request. Lockheed 

Martin has stated that at-sea exploration 

activities have been delayed for several 

reasons including conditions in the 

metals markets and the lack of 

international recognition of the 

DSHMRA licenses USA–1 and USA–4. 

DSHMRA, which establishes a 

domestic licensing regime for United 

States citizens who engage in 

exploration of deep seabed hard mineral 

resources in areas beyond national 

jurisdiction, was enacted in 1980 as an 

interim statute pending the completion 

of negotiations on a Law of the Sea 

Convention (LOSC) acceptable to the 

United States. See 30 U.S.C. 1401(a). 

Although the LOSC was opened for 

signature in 1982, the United States has 

yet to become a party, and thus is not 

a member of the International Seabed 

Authority (ISA), the body established 

under LOSC to regulate deep seabed 

mining and award exploration and 

mining contracts in areas beyond 

national jurisdiction. DSHMRA 

exploration licenses USA–1 and USA–4 

predate the establishment of the ISA in 

1994. As the United States is not a party 

to the Law of the Sea Convention and 

thus not a member of the ISA, the 

United States is unable to seek from the 

ISA an exploration contract to obtain 

international legal recognition of 

Lockheed Martin’s domestic law rights 

under DSHMRA exploration licenses 

USA–1 and USA–4. Recently, the ISA 

established an Area of Particular 

Environmental Interest that partially 

overlaps with DSHMRA exploration 

license USA–1. The ISA designation has 

no bearing on the extension request 

currently under consideration as it is 

not within the criteria specified within 

DSHMRA and its implementing 

regulations for granting license 

extensions. 

During the requested five-year 

extension, Lockheed Martin would 

continue to conduct various preparatory 

activities in advance of at-sea 

exploration, which may become feasible 

at some future date. If NOAA grants this 

extension request, Lockheed Martin 

would need to obtain additional 

authorization from the agency before it 

would be allowed to conduct at-sea 

exploration activities under these 

licenses. Among other requirements, 

any request by Lockheed Martin for 

authorization from NOAA to conduct atsea exploration activities would require 

the agency to conduct additional 

environmental analysis pursuant to 

NOAA’s obligations under the National 

Environmental Policy Act, 42 U.S.C. 

4321 et seq., and DSHMRA. 

NOAA is required under 30 U.S.C. 

1417 to approve an extension request if 

the licensee has substantially complied 

with the license and its associated 

exploration plan. In determining 

substantial compliance, the DSHMRA 

implementing regulations at 15 CFR 

970.515(b) provide that NOAA may 

make allowance for deviation from the 

exploration plan for good cause such as 

significantly changed market 

conditions. 

The request for extension and revised 

exploration plan can be viewed at 

www.regulations.gov, by searching for 

docket number ‘‘NOAA–NOS–2022– 

0033’’. NOAA is seeking comments on 

Lockheed Martin’s request to extend 

DSHMRA exploration licenses USA–1 

and USA–4 including whether the 

company has substantially complied 

with the licenses and exploration plans, 

and whether the revised exploration 

plans for USA–1 and USA–4 meet the 

terms, conditions and restrictions of 

DSHMRA and the licenses issued 

thereunder. 

Keelin S. Kuipers, 

Deputy Director, Office for Coastal 

Management, National Ocean Service, 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05793 Filed 3–17–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–08–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Agency Information Collection 

Activities; Submission to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

Review and Approval; Comment 

Request; Emergency Beacon 

Registrations 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit the following information 

collection request to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review and clearance in accordance 

with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 

1995, on or after the date of publication 

of this notice. We invite the general 

public and other Federal agencies to 

comment on proposed, and continuing 

information collections, which helps us 

assess the impact of our information 

collection requirements and minimize 

the public’s reporting burden. Public 

comments were previously requested 

via the Federal Register on 12/17/2021 

during a 60-day comment period. This 

notice allows for an additional 30 days 

for public comments. 

Agency: National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

Title: Emergency Beacon 

Registrations. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0295. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular submission, 

Revision of a currently approved 

information collection. 

Number of Respondents: 343,808. 

Average Hours per Response: 15 

Minutes. 

Total Annual Burden Hours: 85,952. 

Needs and Uses: The United States, 

Canada, France, and Russia operate the 

Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided 

Tracking (COSPAS/SARSAT), a satellite 

system with equipment that can detect 

and locate ships, aircraft, and 

individuals in distress if an emergency 

radio beacon is being carried. 

This system is used to detect digitally 

encoded signals in the 406.000–406.100 

MHz range, coming from these 

emergency beacons. The 406.000– 

406.100 MHz beacons transmit a unique 

identifier, making possible the ability to 

combine previously collected data 

associated with that beacon and 

transmit this vital data along with the 

beacon’s position to the appropriate 

rescue coordination center. 

Persons buying 406.000–406.100 MHz 

emergency radio beacons are required to 

register them with NOAA prior to 

installation. These requirements are 

contained in Federal Communications 

Commission (FCC) regulations at 47 

CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR 87.199 and 47 CFR 

95.1402. 

The registration data is used to 

facilitate a rescue and to suppress the 

costly consequences of false alarms, 

which if unsuppressed would initiate 

the launch of a rescue mission and 

thereby deplete limited resources and 

possibly result in the loss of lives. This 

is accomplished through the use of the 

data provided to the rescue forces from 

the beacon registration database 

maintained by the NOAA’s United 

States Mission Control Center (USMCC) 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1
15410 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 53 / Friday, March 18, 2022 / Notices 

for Search and Rescue, to contact the 

distressed person(s) or alternate party 

via a phone call or radio broadcast. 

Other data provides rescuers with 

descriptive material of the element in 

distress. The registration information 

must be kept up-to-date. 

Four registration forms are used. The 

EPIRB (Emergency Position Indicating 

Radio Beacon) form is used for nautical 

beacons. The ELT (Emergency Locator 

Transmitter) form is used for aircraft 

beacons. The PLB (Personal Locator 

Beacon) is used to register portable 

beacons carried by individuals. Ship 

Security Alerting System (SSAS) 

beacons are carried aboard ships, are 

similar to EPIRBs and are used in the 

event of an emergency situation such as 

piracy or terrorism. 

These forms are being updated in 

response to the development of 406MHz 

second generation beacons (SGBs), 

which are in development and are 

projected to be available to the public in 

2023. Changes to the forms are as 

follows: 

23-Hex Beacon ID line: SGBs have 23- 

character hexadecimal unique 

identifiers. NOAA’s 406 MHz Beacon 

Registration Database (RGDB) currently 

allows registrations for first generation 

beacons (FGBs) that contain 15- 

character hexadecimal identifiers. Once 

SGBs are on the market, beacon owners 

will have the capability to register either 

FGBs or SGBs in the RGDB. Even 

though each registration will be for only 

one beacon ID, the hardcopy registration 

form must contain separate lines for 

FGBs and SGBs due to the differing 

number of characters and their 

presentation on manufacture labels and 

packaging—FGB IDs are presented in 

groups of 5–5–5 and SGB IDs will be 

6–6–6–5. 

Old 23-Hex ID: This field was added 

to enable registration of a replacement 

SGB beacon. The RGDB will continue to 

capture data for both FGB and SBG 

replacements. 

Beacon Serial No.: This field was 

added to capture the beacon’s serial 

number, which appears on the 

manufacturer-supplied label and/or on 

the beacon or its packaging. The serial 

number provides additional verification 

of the beacon ID and can be used by 

RGDB staff to resolve cases of incorrect 

or duplicate beacon IDs. 

Other: An Automatic Identification 

System (AIS) Maritime Mobile Service 

Identity (MMSI) number was added to 

the EPIRB form. The following fields 

were added to the PLB form to provide 

additional pertinent information to 

search and rescue (SAR) forces: Radio 

Call Sign (on EPIRB form), Vessel MMSI 

# (on EPIRB form), AIS MMSI # (just 

added to EPIRB form), and Aircraft 

Registration (Tail) No. (on ELT form). 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households; Business or other for-profit 

organizations; Not-for-profit 

institutions; State, Local, or Tribal 

government; Federal government. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

Legal Authority: Federal 

Communications Commission (FCC) 

regulations at 47 CFR 80.1061, 47 CFR 

87.199 and 47 CFR 95.1402. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at www.reginfo.gov. 

Follow the instructions to view the 

Department of Commerce collections 

currently under review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be 

submitted within 30 days of the 

publication of this notice on the 

following website www.reginfo.gov/ 

public/do/PRAMain. Find this 

particular information collection by 

selecting ‘‘Currently under 30-day 

Review—Open for Public Comments’’ or 

by using the search function and 

entering either the title of the collection 

or the OMB Control Number 0648–0295. 

Sheleen Dumas, 

Department PRA Clearance Officer, Office of 

the Chief Information Officer, Commerce 

Department. 

[FR Doc. 2022–05792 Filed 3–17–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–HR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB886] 

Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Cooperative 

Management 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 application 

from Pioneers for a Thoughtful 

Coexistence, Inc. contains all the 

required information and warrants 

further consideration. Regulations under 

the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act and 

the Atlantic Coastal Fisheries 

Cooperative Management Act require 

publication of this notice to provide 

interested parties the opportunity to 

comment on applications for proposed 

Exempted Fishing Permits. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before April 4, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit written 

comments by any of the following 

methods: 

• Email: NMFS.GAR.EFP@noaa.gov. 

Include in the subject line ‘‘Comments 

on Pioneers Ropeless Fishing EFP.’’ If 

you are unable to submit comments via 

the above email, please contact Laura 

Hansen at (978) 281–9225, or email at 

Laura.Hansen@noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laura Hansen, Fishery Management 

Specialist, (978) 281–9225. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Pioneers 

for a Thoughtful Coexistence Inc. 

(Pionners), in collaboration with the 

Northeaster Fisheries Science Center 

(NEFSC) submitted a complete 

application for an Exempted Fishing 

Permit (EFP) on December 20, 2021, to 

conduct a ropeless lobster gear testing 

project. Pioneers is requesting an 

exemption from Federal lobster 

regulations that would authorize three 

federally permitted commercial lobster 

vessels to participate in a ropeless 

lobster gear study in the Massachusetts 

Bay Restricted Area (MBRA). Pioneers is 

requesting an exemption from gear 

marking requirements at 50 CFR 

697.21(b)(2) to allow for the use of no 

surface markers on a trawl of more than 

three traps. 

The purpose of this study is to test 

real-world use of acoustic-release 

systems that would reduce the risk of 

entangling protected species, including 

the North Atlantic right whale. 

The EFP would authorize three 

federally permitted lobster vessels to 

modify some of their existing trawls to 

use ‘‘on-demand access’’ technology for 

the retrieval of the gear. Each vessel 

would use 10 sets of acoustic releases 

and equipment to fish 10, 20-pot trawls 

each. Experimental trawls would either 

have a rope spool, a buoy and stowed 

rope system, or a lift bag system fitted 

with an acoustic release, deployed on 

one end of the trawl. One vessel would 

have 5 of the 10 trawls fixed with 

acoustic releases on both ends of the 

trawl. Two state-permitted vessels 

would also participate in the study 

exclusively in state waters of the MBRA, 

and do not require Federal EFPs. 

Participating vessels would be testing 

gear in discrete areas in the MBRA that 

were selected by the applicant based on 

their claim of limited historical right 

whale usage, desired bottom 

composition, minimal gear conflict 


jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with NOTICES1