Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2018 / Notices 2425 

Building, 1401 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20230. The 

address to register, submit comments, or 

request auxiliary aids is: Mr. Jeffrey 

Phillips, Office of Energy & 

Environmental Industries (OEEI), 

International Trade Administration, 

Room 28018, 1401 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20230 or email: 

jeffrey.phillips@trade.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. 

Jeffrey Phillips, Office of Energy & 

Environmental Industries (OEEI), 

International Trade Administration, 

Room 28018, 1401 Constitution Avenue 

NW, Washington, DC 20230 (Phone: 

202–482–8342; Fax: 202–482–5665; 

email: jeffrey.phillips@trade.gov.) 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

meeting will take place on February 6 

from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. EDT. The 

general meeting is open to the public 

and time will be permitted for public 

comment from 3:00–3:30 p.m. EDT. 

Members of the public seeking to attend 

the meeting are required to register in 

advance. Those interested in attending 

must provide notification by Friday, 

January 26, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. EDT, via 

the contact information provided above. 

This meeting is physically accessible to 

people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to 

OEEI at (202) 482–8342 no less than one 

week prior to the meeting. Requests 

received after this date will be accepted, 

but it may not be possible to 

accommodate them. 

Written comments concerning ETTAC 

affairs are welcome any time before or 

after the meeting. To be considered 

during the meeting, written comments 

must be received by Friday, January 26, 

2018 at 5:00 p.m. EDT to ensure 

transmission to the members before the 

meeting. Minutes will be available 

within 30 days of this meeting. 

Topic to be considered: During the 

February 6, 2018 meeting the three 

ETTAC subcommittees will discuss 

their top priorities for this charter 

period, with the goal of generating 

recommendations for the Secretary of 

Commerce. Topics under discussion 

include optimizing the U.S. 

Government’s trade promotion 

programs, identifying market access 

barriers, pros and cons of existing trade 

agreements, and discussing 

procurement policy, including issues 

with financing mechanisms, localization 

requirements and non-tariff barriers. 

The ETTAC’s subcommittees are: Trade 

Promotion and Export Market 

Development, Professional Services and 

Infrastructure Advancement, and Trade 

Policy and American Competitiveness. 

Background: The ETTAC is mandated 

by Section 2313(c) of the Export 

Enhancement Act of 1988, as amended, 

15 U.S.C. 4728(c), to advise the 

Environmental Trade Working Group of 

the Trade Promotion Coordinating 

Committee, through the Secretary of 

Commerce, on the development and 

administration of programs to expand 

U.S. exports of environmental 

technologies, goods, services, and 

products. The ETTAC was originally 

chartered in May of 1994. It was most 

recently re-chartered until August 2018. 

Dated: January 10, 2018. 

Edward A. O’Malley, 

Director, Office of Energy and Environmental 

Industries. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00643 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DR–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XF679 

Fisheries of the Caribbean, Gulf of 

Mexico, and South Atlantic; Gulf of 

Mexico State Management Program 

Amendment for Recreational Red 

Snapper 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of intent (NOI) to prepare 

a draft environmental impact statement 

(DEIS); request for comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS, Southeast Region, in 

collaboration with the Gulf of Mexico 

Fishery Management Council (Council), 

intends to prepare a DEIS to describe 

and analyze management alternatives to 

be included in the State Management 

Program for Recreational Red Snapper 

Amendment to the Fishery Management 

Plan (FMP) for the Reef Fish Resources 

of the Gulf of Mexico (State 

Management Program Amendment). The 

State Management Program Amendment 

will consider alternatives that would 

allocate the total recreational red 

snapper annual catch limit (ACL) for the 

Gulf of Mexico (Gulf) among the 

individual Gulf states of Alabama, 

Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and 

Texas, and designate the components of 

the recreational sector that would be 

included under a state’s management 

program (private angling and/or charter 

vessel/headboat (for-hire) components). 

These decisions would form the basis 

for individual state amendments to the 

FMP to allow each of the Gulf states to 

establish management measures for the 

recreational harvest of red snapper in 

adjacent Gulf Federal waters. State 

management would enable each state to 

specify the management measures that 

best meet the needs of its constituents, 

thereby addressing regional socioeconomic concerns. The purpose of this 

NOI is to inform the public of upcoming 

opportunities to provide additional 

comments on the scope of issues to be 

addressed in the DEIS, as specified in 

this notice. 

DATES: Written comments on the scope 

of issues to be addressed in the DEIS 

must be received by NMFS by February 

16, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the Amendment identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2017–0122’’ by any of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic submissions: Submit 

electronic comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://

www.regulations.gov. Go to 

www.regulations.gov/#!

docketDetail;D=NOAA-NMFS-2017- 

0122, click the ‘‘Comment Now!’’ icon, 

complete the required fields, and enter 

or attach your comments 

• Mail: Submit written comments to 

Lauren Waters, Southeast Regional 

Office, NMFS, 263 13th Avenue South, 

St. Petersburg, FL 33701. 

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). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Lauren Waters, Southeast Regional 

Office, telephone: (727) 824–5305; or 

email: Lauren.Waters@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For Gulf 

red snapper the recreational sector is 

separated into Federal for-hire (charter 

vessels and headboats) and private 

angling components, each managed 

under their respective recreational 

quotas and annual catch targets (ACTs). 

This separation will end after the 2022 

fishing year if the Council takes no 

further action. NMFS annually projects 

the recreational season length for each 

component based on the ACTs and the 

projected average weights of fish and 

catch rates derived from historical 


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2426 Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2018 / Notices 

trends. Despite increases in the total red 

snapper quota, the recreational season 

length for the private angler component 

has become progressively shorter. 

Fishermen from different Gulf states 

have requested more flexibility in 

recreational red snapper management so 

that regulations provide greater socioeconomic benefits to their particular 

area. In June 2012, Louisiana requested 

that the Council develop a recreational 

red snapper regional management pilot 

program. As a result of the Louisiana 

request, the Council initiated 

development of Amendment 39 to the 

FMP. Amendment 39 considered several 

actions that are also currently being 

considered by the Council, such as the 

mechanism for implementing regional 

management, apportioning the 

recreational annual catch limit (ACL) 

among the Gulf states, and modifying 

post-season accountability measures 

(AMs) consistent with the regional 

management approach. 

In May 2013, NMFS published an NOI 

to prepare a draft environmental impact 

statement for Amendment 39 and 

solicited public comment (78 FR 27956, 

May 13, 2013). As explained in that 

NOI, the intent of Amendment 39 was 

to allow participating states or regions 

to design management options to better 

fit their needs. However, red snapper 

would remain a federally managed 

species. The Council and NMFS would 

continue to oversee management of the 

stock. This includes continuing to 

comply with the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act (Magnuson-Stevens Act) and the 

mandate to ensure the red snapper 

annual recreational quota is not 

exceeded and that conservation 

objectives are achieved. The Council’s 

Scientific and Statistical Committee 

(SSC) would continue to determine the 

acceptable biological catch (ABC) for 

red snapper, and the Council and NMFS 

would determine the total recreational 

red snapper quota that could be 

allocated among regions. 

During the development of 

Amendment 39, the Council received 

public input on actions and alternatives 

regarding regional management of 

recreational red snapper at numerous 

public hearing meetings and Council 

meetings held throughout the Gulf states 

from October 2012 through January 

2016, as well as via webinar. 

Additionally the Council’s Reef Fish 

Advisory Panel reviewed regional 

management actions and alternatives in 

September 2015. The Environmental 

Protection Agency published a Notice of 

Availability for the DEIS for 

Amendment 39 in December 2015 (80 

FR 79041, December 18, 2015). 

However, in January 2016, the Council 

voted to postpone further work on 

Amendment 39. In April 2017, the 

Council began discussing regional 

management concepts again and 

decided to develop new amendments to 

provide the management flexibility 

desired by the Gulf states and their 

constituents. Similar to Amendment 39, 

the intent is to allow each participating 

state to implement management 

measures to better fit its needs, while 

achieving the same conservations goals 

as the Federal management measures in 

existence at any given time. 

The Council is currently considering 

several FMP amendments that would 

allow each Gulf state to manage the 

recreational harvest of red snapper in 

Federal waters adjacent to their state. 

The State Management Program 

Amendment will consider alternatives 

to apportion the total recreational red 

snapper ACL for the Gulf among the 

individual Gulf states and determine 

which components of the recreational 

sector would be included under a state’s 

management program (private angling 

and/or charter vessel/headboat (for-hire) 

components). Five separate FMP 

amendments, one for each Gulf state, 

will consider alternatives to establish 

the state-specific authority structure, 

such as delegation or the use of 

conservation equivalency plans, and 

state-specific post-season accountability 

measures for each state that participates 

in the State Management Program for 

recreational red snapper (State 

Amendments). 

NMFS, in collaboration with the 

Council, will develop a DEIS to describe 

and analyze alternatives to address the 

management needs described above 

including the ‘‘no action’’ alternative. 

The State Management Program 

Amendment DEIS will describe and 

analyze the apportionment and 

recreational sector component 

alternatives as well as describe and 

analyze the authority structure and 

accountability measure alternatives 

included in the five individual State 

Amendments. Thus, NMFS anticipates 

that the State Management Program 

Amendment EIS will include the 

relevant National Environmental Policy 

Act (NEPA) analyses for all six FMP 

amendments. However, NMFS will 

continue to evaluate this determination 

as the State Amendments are developed 

and will provide additional NEPA 

analysis as appropriate. 

In accordance with NOAA’s 

Administrative Order 216–6A, 

accompanying NEPA Procedures 

(companion manual), and the Scoping 

Process, NMFS, in collaboration with 

the Council, has identified preliminary 

environmental issues as a means to 

initiate discussion for scoping purposes 

only. The public is invited to provide 

written comments on the preliminary 

issues, which are identified as actions 

and alternatives in the State 

Management Program Amendment draft 

options paper and action guide. These 

preliminary issues may not represent 

the full range of issues that eventually 

will be evaluated in the DEIS. A copy 

of the State Management Program 

Amendment draft options paper and 

action guide are available at http://

sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sustainable_

fisheries/gulf_fisheries/reef_fish/2017/ 

RSStateManagement/RSStateManage

index.html. 

After the DEIS associated with the 

State Management Program Amendment 

is completed, it will be filed with the 

Environmental Protection Agency 

(EPA). After filing, the EPA will publish 

a notice of availability (NOA) of the 

DEIS for public comment in the Federal 

Register. The DEIS will have a 45-day 

comment period. This procedure is 

pursuant to regulations issued by the 

Council on Environmental Quality 

(CEQ) for implementing the procedural 

provisions of the NEPA (40 CFR parts 

1500–1508) and to NOAA’s 

Administrative Order 216–6A regarding 

NOAA’s compliance with NEPA and the 

CEQ regulations. 

The Council and NMFS will consider 

public comments received on the DEIS 

in developing the final environmental 

impact statement (FEIS), and before the 

Council votes to submit the State 

Management Program Amendment to 

NMFS for Secretarial review, approval, 

and implementation under the 

Magnuson-Stevens Act. NMFS will 

announce in the Federal Register the 

availability of the final amendment and 

FEIS for public review during the 

Secretarial review period, and will 

consider all public comments prior to 

final agency action to approve, 

disapprove, or partially approve the 

final amendment. During Secretarial 

review, NMFS will also file the FEIS 

with the EPA and the EPA will publish 

an NOA for the FEIS in the Federal 

Register. 

NMFS will announce, through a 

notice published in the Federal 

Register, all public comment periods on 

the final amendment, its proposed 

implementing regulations, and the 

availability of its associated FEIS. NMFS 

will consider all public comments 

received during the Secretarial review 

period, whether they are on the final 

amendment, the proposed regulations, 

or the FEIS, prior to final agency action. 

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


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Federal Register / Vol. 83, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 17, 2018 / Notices 2427 

Dated: January 10, 2018. 

Emily H. Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00666 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

Submission for OMB Review; 

Comment Request 

The Department of Commerce will 

submit to the Office of Management and 

Budget (OMB) for clearance the 

following proposal for collection of 

information under the provisions of the 

Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

Chapter 35). 

Agency: National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 

Title: Alaska American Fisheries Act 

(AFA) Reports. 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0401. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Request: Regular (extension of 

a currently approved information 

collection). 

Number of Respondents: 8. 

Average Hours per Response: AFA 

cooperative contract, 8 hours; annual 

cooperative report, 16 hours; inshore 

cooperative weekly catch report, 45 

minutes; incentive plan agreement (IPA) 

amendment, 50 hours; incentive plan 

agreement disapproval appeals, 4 hours; 

IPA annual report, 80 hours. 

Burden Hours: 599. 

Needs and Uses: On October 21, 1998, 

the President signed into law The 

American Fisheries Act, 16 U.S.C. 1851 

(AFA). The AFA authorizes the 

formation of fishery cooperatives in all 

sectors of the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

Islands Management Area (BSAI) 

pollock fishery, grants antitrust 

exemptions to cooperatives in the 

mothership sector, and imposes 

operational limits on fishery 

cooperatives in the BSAI pollock 

fishery. The National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) issues a single pollock 

allocation to each cooperative, and the 

cooperative may make sub-allocations of 

pollock to each individual vessel owner 

in the cooperative. 

With respect to the fisheries off 

Alaska, the AFA Program is a suite of 

management measures that fall into four 

general regulatory categories: 

• Limit access into the fishing and 

processing sectors of the BSAI pollock 

fishery and that allocate pollock to such 

sectors (50 CFR 679.64). 

• Govern the formation and operation 

of fishery cooperatives in the BSAI 

pollock fishery, including filing of 

cooperative contracts (50 CFR 679.61 

and 679.62). 

• Protection of other fisheries from 

spillover effects from the AFA (50 CFR 

679.64). 

• Govern catch measurement and 

monitoring in the BSAI pollock fishery, 

including filing of annual reports and 

completing and submitting inshore 

catcher vessel pollock cooperative catch 

reports (50 CFR 679.63). 

Affected Public: Business or other forprofit organizations. 

Frequency: Annually and on occasion. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Mandatory. 

This information collection request 

may be viewed at reginfo.gov. Follow 

the instructions to view Department of 

Commerce collections currently under 

review by OMB. 

Written comments and 

recommendations for the proposed 

information collection should be sent 

within 30 days of publication of this 

notice to OIRA_Submission@

omb.eop.gov or fax to (202) 395–5806. 

Dated: January 11, 2018. 

Sarah Brabson, 

NOAA PRA Clearance Officer. 

[FR Doc. 2018–00691 Filed 1–16–18; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XF951 

Whaling Provisions; Aboriginal 

Subsistence Whaling Quotas 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; notification of quota for 

bowhead whales. 

SUMMARY: NMFS notifies the public of 

the aboriginal subsistence whaling 

quota for bowhead whales that it has 

assigned to the Alaska Eskimo Whaling 

Commission (AEWC), and of limitations 

on the use of the quota deriving from 

regulations of the International Whaling 

Commission (IWC). For 2018, the quota 

is 75 bowhead whales struck. This quota 

and other applicable limitations govern 

the harvest of bowhead whales by 

members of the AEWC. 

DATES: Applicable January 17, 2018. 

ADDRESSES: Office for International 

Affairs and Seafood Inspection, National 

Marine Fisheries Service, 1315 EastWest Highway, Silver Spring, MD 

20910. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Carolyn Doherty, (301) 427–8385. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Aboriginal 

subsistence whaling in the United States 

is governed by the Whaling Convention 

Act (WCA) (16 U.S.C. 916 et seq.). 

Under the WCA, IWC regulations shall 

generally become effective with respect 

to all persons and vessels subject to the 

jurisdiction of the United States, within 

90 days of notification from the IWC 

Secretariat of an amendment to the IWC 

Schedule (16 U.S.C. 916k). Regulations 

that implement the WCA, found at 50 

CFR 230.6, require the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary) to publish, at 

least annually, aboriginal subsistence 

whaling quotas and any other 

limitations on aboriginal subsistence 

whaling deriving from regulations of the 

IWC. 

At the 64th Annual Meeting of the 

IWC, the Commission set catch limits 

for aboriginal subsistence use of 

bowhead whales from the BeringChukchi-Beaufort Seas stock. The 

bowhead catch limits were based on a 

joint request by the United States and 

the Russian Federation, accompanied by 

documentation concerning the needs of 

two Native groups: Alaska Eskimos and 

Chukotka Natives in the Russian Far 

East. 

The IWC set a 6-year block catch limit 

of 336 bowhead whales landed. For 

each of the years 2013 through 2018, the 

number of bowhead whales struck may 

not exceed 67, except that any unused 

portion of a strike quota from any prior 

year may be carried forward. No more 

than 15 strikes may be added to the 

strike quota for any one year. At the end 

of the 2017 harvest, there were 15 

unused strikes available for carryforward, so the combined strike quota 

set by the IWC for 2018 is 82 (67 + 15). 

An arrangement between the United 

States and the Russian Federation 

ensures that the total quota of bowhead 

whales landed and struck in 2018 will 

not exceed the limits set by the IWC. 

Under this arrangement, the Russian 

natives may use no more than seven 

strikes, and the Alaska Eskimos may use 

no more than 75 strikes. 

Through its cooperative agreement 

with the AEWC, NOAA has assigned 75 

strikes to the Alaska Eskimos. The 

AEWC will in turn allocate these strikes 

among the 11 villages whose cultural 

and subsistence needs have been 

documented, and will ensure that its 

hunters use no more than 75 strikes. 

Other Limitations 

The IWC regulations, as well as the 

NOAA regulation at 50 CFR 230.4(c), 

forbid the taking of calves or any whale 

accompanied by a calf. 


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