18550 Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 77 / Thursday, April 23, 2009 / Notices 

foregoing time period. See section 

751(a)(3)(A) of the Act and 19 CFR 

351.214(h)(2). 

The Department finds that it is not 

practicable to complete the preliminary 

results within this time limit. The 

Department is extending the deadline 

because it intends to provide parties 

additional time to submit surrogate 

value data and thus will require 

additional time to analyze these data. 

Furthermore, the Department recently 

rescinded a changed circumstance 

review for Vinh Hoan Co., Ltd. because 

it determined that Vinh Hoan’s 

circumstances would be best addressed 

in the context of this administrative 

review. See Certain Frozen Fish Fillets 

from the Socialist Republic of Vietnam: 

Rescission of Antidumping Duty 

Changed Circumstances Review, 74 FR 

7659 (February 19, 2009). The 

Department requires additional time to 

address these circumstances in this 

review. We are therefore extending the 

time for the completion of the 

preliminary results of this review by 120 

days to August 31, 2009. 

This notice is published in 

accordance with section 751(a)(3)(A) of 

the Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(2). 

Dated: April 16, 2009. 

John M. Andersen, 

Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

Antidumping and Countervailing Duty 

Operations. 

[FR Doc. E9–9334 Filed 4–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

RIN 0648–XN80 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone off Alaska; Application for an 

Exempted Fishing Permit 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; public comment on an 

application for exempted fishing permit. 

SUMMARY: This notice announces the 

public comment period for an exempted 

fishing permit (EFP) application from 

the Best Use Cooperative (BUC). If 

granted, this permit would allow three 

BUC vessels to remove halibut from a 

codend on the deck, and release those 

fish back to the water after determining 

the physical condition of the halibut 

with the International Pacific Halibut 

Commission method for predicting 

halibut mortality. The EFP would allow 

operators of BUC non–pelagic trawl 

vessels to study methods for reducing 

halibut mortality in trawl fisheries by 

evaluating various fishing and handling 

practices. This activity has the potential 

to promote the objectives of the 

Magnuson–Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act by 

assessing techniques for reducing 

halibut discard mortality in non–pelagic 

trawl fisheries. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received by May 8, 2009. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Sue 

Salveson, Assistant Regional 

Administrator, Sustainable Fisheries 

Division, Alaska Region, NMFS, Attn: 

Ellen Sebastian. You may submit 

comments, identified by ‘‘RIN 0648– 

XN80,’’ by any one of the following 

methods: 

• E-mail: EFP0902@noaa.gov. Include 

in the subject line the following 

document identifier: ‘‘RIN 0648-XN80’’. 

E-mail comments, with or without 

attachments, are limited to 5 megabytes; 

• Mail: P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, AK 

99802. 

• Fax: 907–586–7557. 

• Hand delivery to the Federal 

Building: 709 West 9th Street, Room 

420A, Juneau, AK. 

Copies of the EFP application and the 

basis for a categorical exclusion under 

the National Environmental Policy Act 

are available by writing to the Alaska 

Region, NMFS, P. O. Box 21668, Juneau, 

AK 99802, Attn: Ellen Sebastian. The 

application also is available from the 

Alaska Region, NMFS website at http:// 

alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeff 

Hartman, 907–586–7442 or 

jeff.hartman@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: NMFS 

manages the domestic groundfish 

fisheries in the Bering Sea and Aleutian 

Islands Management Area (BSAI) under 

the Fishery Management Plan for 

Groundfish of the BSAI (FMP), which 

the Council prepared under the 

Magnuson–Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act. 

Regulations governing the groundfish 

fisheries of the BSAI appear at 50 CFR 

parts 600 and 679. The FMP and the 

implementing regulations at 

§ 600.745(b) and § 679.6 allow the 

NMFS Regional Administrator to 

authorize, for limited experimental 

purposes, fishing that would otherwise 

be prohibited. Procedures for issuing 

EFPs are contained in the implementing 

regulations. 

The International Pacific Halibut 

Commission (IPHC) and NMFS manage 

fishing for Pacific halibut (Hippoglossus 

stenolepis) through regulations 

established under the authority of the 

Convention between the United States 

and Canada for the Preservation of the 

Halibut Fishery of the Northern Pacific 

Ocean and Bering Sea (Convention) and 

the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 1982 

(Halibut Act). The IPHC promulgates 

regulations pursuant to the Convention. 

The IPHC’s regulations are subject to 

approval by the Secretary of State with 

concurrence from the Secretary of 

Commerce (Secretary). 

On March 23, 2009, NMFS published 

a notice for receipt of an application 

from the Best Use Cooperative (BUC) for 

an EFP that evaluates handling methods 

to improve discard survival of 

incidentally caught halibut (74 FR 

12113). Review of the EFP application 

was included on the published agenda 

for the April 2009 North Pacific Fishery 

Management Council (Council) meeting. 

The Council’s Scientific and Statistical 

Committee (SSC) and the Advisory 

Panel (AP) reviewed the application, 

provided opportunity for public 

comment, and recommended the 

Council approve issuance of the EFP. 

After hearing the recommendations of 

the SSC and AP, and not expressing 

disagreement with those 

recommendations, the Council did not 

further consider the EFP application 

and provided no additional method of 

public testimony on this item at the 

Council meeting. Regulations at 

§ 600.745(b)(3) requires NMFS to 

provide opportunity for public comment 

on an EFP application either through a 

Federal Register notice and/or during a 

Council meeting. Because NMFS has 

determined that this application for an 

EFP warrants further consideration and 

because the public was not provided the 

opportunity to provide public comment 

to the Council at its April 2009 meeting, 

NMFS is providing this additional 

opportunity for public review and 

comment on this EFP application. 

Background 

Regulations implemented by the IPHC 

allow Pacific halibut to be commercially 

harvested by the directed North Pacific 

longline fishery only. Halibut caught 

incidentally in other fisheries, such as 

non–pelagic trawl fisheries, must be 

sampled by observers and returned to 

the ocean as soon as possible. 

Regulations implementing the FMP 

establish annual halibut bycatch 

mortality limits, also referred to as 

halibut prohibited species catch (PSC) 

limit, for the groundfish fisheries. 

Fisheries close when they reach their 

seasonal or annual halibut PSC limit 

even if the allowable catch of 

groundfish is not yet caught. In the case 

of the Bering Sea flatfish fishery, 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 74, No. 77 / Thursday, April 23, 2009 / Notices 18551 

seasons have been closed before the 

fishery quotas have been reached to 

prevent the fishery from reaching the 

halibut PSC limit. Reducing halibut 

mortality and assuring that each halibut 

returned to the sea has the highest 

possible chance of survival are therefore 

high priorities for the IPHC’s, the 

Council’s, and NMFS’s management 

goals for both halibut and groundfish. 

Before halibut are returned to the sea, 

the catch of halibut as well as other 

groundfish must first be estimated by 

at–sea observers. A number of 

regulations assure that observer 

estimates of halibut and groundfish 

catch are credible, accurate, and without 

bias. For example, NMFS requires that 

all catch be made available for sampling 

by an observer; prohibits tampering 

with observer samples; prohibits 

removal of halibut from a codend, bin, 

or conveyance system prior to being 

observed and counted by an at–sea 

observer; and prohibits fish (including 

halibut) from remaining on deck unless 

an observer is present. 

With the implementation of 

Amendment 80 to the FMP on 

September 14, 2007 (72 FR 52668), 

allocation of halibut PSC amounts was 

modified for vessels in the Amendment 

80 sector, but halibut mortality 

continued to limit fishing in some 

fisheries. The Amendment 80 sector 

received an initial allocation of 2,525 

metric tons (mt) of halibut PSC in 2008, 

but that allocation will decrease by 50 

mt per year until it reaches 2,325 mt in 

2012 and subsequent years. This 

amount is further allocated between the 

BUC and the Amendment 80 limited 

access fishery. In certain years, the 

amount of halibut PSC allocated to the 

Amendment 80 sector is less than the 

sector’s historic catch; therefore, finding 

ways to continue to reduce halibut 

mortality is important for this sector. 

The EFP applicant proposes to assess 

various fishing practices and their effect 

on halibut survival. It would allow 

researchers onboard the three catcher 

processor vessels to sort halibut 

removed from a codend on the deck of 

the vessel and release those fish back to 

the water after determining the physical 

condition of the halibut using standard 

IPHC viability methods for predicting 

mortality of individual fish. 

Fishing under the EFP would occur in 

two phases during 2009. In May and 

June, Phase I fishing would allow 

sorting of halibut on deck to determine 

practices for reducing halibut mortality. 

Later in the year, Phase II would apply 

the halibut mortality saved in Phase I to 

allow additional EFP catch of 

groundfish and halibut within the 

BUC’s allocation. 

This proposed action would exempt 

the participating vessels from the 

following: 

1. The prohibition on biasing the 

sampling procedure employed by an 

observer through sorting of catch before 

sampling at § 679.7(g)(2); 

2. A requirement to weigh all catch by 

an Amendment 80 vessel on a NMFS– 

approved scale at § 679.27(j)(5)(ii); 

3. A requirement for all catch to be 

made available for sampling at 

§ 679.93(c)(1); and 

4. The requirement for halibut to not 

be allowed on deck without an observer 

present at § 679.93(c)(5). 

The BUC would not be allowed to 

exceed the 2009 Amendment 80 

cooperative apportionment of halibut 

mortality of (1,793 mt). In the event that 

the amount of halibut mortality savings 

estimated under this EFP shows less 

mortality than the amount estimated 

using standard 2009 halibut discard 

mortality rates established for the Bering 

Sea trawl fisheries (February 17, 2009, 

74 FR 7333), BUC may be allowed to 

continue fishing for groundfish species 

later in the year, with some limitations. 

The BUC would be required to submit 

a report to NMFS and the IPHC of the 

estimated halibut mortality saved 

during the Phase I. After review and 

approval by NMFS, the BUC may be 

allowed to do subsequent EFP fishing 

later in the year as Phase II fishing 

under the EFP. The BUC would be 

limited to no more than the BUC’s 

Amendment 80 groundfish allocation. 

The additional amount of halibut caught 

would not exceed the amount of the 

halibut mortality savings under the EFP, 

or BUC’s 2009 allocation of halibut PSC. 

This EFP would apply for the period 

of time required to complete the 

experiment in Phase I and potentially in 

subsequent fishing in Phase II, during 

2009, in areas of the BSAI open to 

directed fishing by the BUC. The EFP 

activities would be of limited scope and 

duration and would not be expected to 

change the nature or duration of the 

groundfish fishery, fishing practices or 

gear used, or the amount or species of 

fish caught by the BUC. 

The activities that would be 

conducted under this EFP are not 

expected to have a significant impact on 

the human environment as detailed in 

the categorical exclusion issued for this 

action (see ADDRESSES). 

In accordance with § 679.6, NMFS has 

determined that the proposal warrants 

further consideration and has forwarded 

the application to the Council to initiate 

consultation. The Council considered 

the EFP application during its April 

2009 meeting. 

Public Comments 

Public comments are being solicited 

on the application through the end of 

the comment period stated in this 

notice. To be considered, comments 

must be received by close of business on 

the last day of the comment period; that 

does not mean postmarked or otherwise 

transmitted by that date. Copies of the 

application and categorical exclusion 

are available for review from NMFS (see 

ADDRESSES). 

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

Dated: April 17, 2009. 

Kristen C. Koch, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E9–9343 Filed 4–22–09; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

List of National System Marine 

Protected Areas 

AGENCY: NOAA, Department of 

Commerce (DOC). 

ACTION: Notice of availability of the List 

of National System Marine Protected 

Areas (MPAs) and response to 

comments on nominations of existing 

MPAs to the national system. 

SUMMARY: NOAA and the Department of 

the Interior (DOI) invited federal, state, 

commonwealth, and territorial MPA 

programs with potentially eligible 

existing MPAs to nominate their sites to 

the national system of MPAs (national 

system). A total of 225 nominations 

were received. Following a 30-day 

public review period, 26 public 

comments were received by the 

National Marine Protected Areas Center 

and forwarded to the relevant managing 

agencies. After review of the public 

comments, managing agencies were 

asked to make a final determination of 

sites to nominate to the national system. 

All the nominations were confirmed by 

the managing agencies. Finding them to 

be eligible for the national system, the 

National Marine Protected Areas Center 

has accepted the nominations for 225 

sites and placed them on the List of 

National System MPAs. 

The national system and the 

nomination process are described in the 

Framework for the National System of 

Marine Protected Areas of the United 

States of America (Framework), 

developed in response to Executive 

Order 13158 on Marine Protected Areas. 

The final Framework was published on 


sroberts on PROD1PC70 with NOTICES