29094 Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 103 / Tuesday, May 29, 2001 / Notices

ii. A negotiated repayment schedule is

established and at least one payment is

received, or

iii. Other arrangements satisfactory to

DOC are made.

4. Name Check Review

All non-profit and for-profit

applicants are subject to a name check

review process. Name checks are

intended to reveal if any key individuals

associated with the applicant have been

convicted of, or are presently facing,

criminal charges such as fraud, theft,

perjury, or other matters that

significantly reflect on the applicant’s

management, honesty, or financial

integrity.

5. Primary Applicant Certifications

All primary applicants must submit a

completed Form CD-511, ‘‘Certifications

Regarding Debarment, Suspension and

Other Responsibility Matters; Drug-Free

Workplace Requirements and

Lobbying,’’ and the following

explanations are hereby provided:

i. Nonprocurement Debarment and

Suspension. Prospective participants (as

defined at 15 CFR 26.105) are subject to

15 CFR part 26, ‘‘Nonprocurement

Debarment and Suspension’’ and the

related section of the certification form

prescribed above applies;

ii. Drug-free Workplace. Grantees (as

defined at 15 CFR 26.605) are subject to

15 CFR part 26, subpart F,

‘‘Governmentwide Requirements for

Drug-Free Workplace (Grants)’’ and the

related section of the certification form

prescribed above applies;

iii. Anti-lobbying. Persons (as defined

at 15 CFR 28.105) are subject to the

lobbying provisions of 31 U.S.C. 1352,

‘‘Limitation on use of appropriated

funds to influence certain Federal

contracting and financial transactions,’’

and the lobbying section of the

certification form prescribed here

applies to applications/bids for grants,

cooperative agreements, and contracts

for more than $100,000, and loans and

loan guarantees for more than $150,000;

and

iv. Anti-lobbying Disclosures. Any

applicant who has paid or will pay for

lobbying using any funds must submit

an SF-LLL, ‘‘Disclosure of Lobbying

Activities,’’ as required under 15 CFR

part 28, appendix B.

6. Lower Tier Certifications

Recipients shall require applicants/

bidders for subgrants, contracts,

subcontracts, or other lower tier covered

transactions at any tier under the award

to submit, if applicable, a completed

Form CD-512, ‘‘Certifications Regarding

Debarment, Suspension, Ineligibility

and Voluntary Exclusion-Lower Tier

Covered Transactions and Lobbying’’

and disclosure form, SF-LLL,

‘‘Disclosure of Lobbying Activities.’’

Form CD-512 is intended for the use of

recipients and should not be transmitted

to DOC. SF-LLL submitted by any tier

recipient or subrecipient should be

submitted to DOC in accordance with

the instructions contained in the award

document.

7. False Statements

A false statement on an application is

grounds for denial or termination of

funds and grounds for possible

punishment by a fine or imprisonment

as provided in 18 U.S.C. 1001.

8. Pre-award Activities

If you incur any costs prior to

receiving an award agreement signed by

an authorized NOAA official, you do so

solely at your own risk of these costs not

being included under the award.

Notwithstanding any verbal or written

assurance that you may have received,

pre-award costs are not allowed under

the award unless the grants officer

approves them in accordance with 15

CFR 14.28.

9. Future Awards

If we select your application to

perform sea scallop research to be

conducted with the scallop TAC setaside, we have no obligation to provide

any additional TAC set-aside obligations

in connection with that award.

Classification

Prior notice and opportunity for

public comments are not required by the

Administrative Procedure Act or any

other law for this notice concerning

grants, benefits, and contracts (5 U.S.C.

553(a)(2)).

Because a general notice of proposed

rulemaking as specified in 5 U.S.C. 533,

or any other law, was not required for

this action, the analytical requirements

of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5

U.S.C. 601 et seq., are not applicable.

This notice contains collection-ofinformation requirements subject to the

Paperwork Reduction Act. The use of

Standard Forms 269, 424, 424A, 424B,

and SF-LLL have been approved by

OMB under the respective control

numbers 0348–0039, 0348–0043, 0348–

0044, 0348–0040, and 0348–0046.

Notwithstanding any other provision

of law, no person is required to respond

to, nor shall any person be subject to a

penalty for failure to comply with, a

collection of information subject to the

Paperwork Reduction Act, unless that

collection displays a currently valid

OMB control number.

This action has been determined to be

not significant for purposes of Executive

Order 12866.

Dated: May 23, 2001.

John Oliver,

Acting Assistant Administrator for Fisheries,

National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 01–13416 Filed 5–23–01; 4:15 pm]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 052201C]

Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management

Council; Public Meeting

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),

Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of public meetings.

SUMMARY: The Gulf of Mexico Fishery

Management Council will convene

public meetings of the Standing and

Special Reef Fish Scientific and

Statistical Committee (SSC) on Tuesday,

June 12, 2001 and the Reef Fish

Advisory Panel (AP) on Wednesday,

June 13, 2001.

DATES: The SSC will meet beginning at

8:30 a.m. on June 12, 2001 and will

conclude by 5 p.m. The AP will meet

beginning at 8:30 a.m. on June 13, 2001

and will conclude by 5 p.m.

ADDRESSES: The meetings will be held at

the New Orleans Airport Hilton, 901

Airline Highway, Kenner, LA;

telephone: 504–469–5000.

Council address: Gulf of Mexico

Fishery Management Council, 3018 U.S.

Highway 301 North, Suite 1000, Tampa,

FL 33619.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Steven Atran, Population Dynamics

Statistician, Gulf of Mexico Fishery

Management Council; telephone: 813–

228–2815.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SSC

and AP will meet to review and

comment on proposals contained in

draft Reef Fish Amendment 18, which

will establish a 10–year red grouper

rebuilding program and address other

gear and enforcement issues. The SSC

and AP will also be asked to review and

comment on a draft Supplemental

Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS)

which updates the last SEIS (published

in 1993 as part of Amendment 5),

reviews environmental impacts of the

Amendment 18 alternatives, and

identifies reef fish essential fish habitat

(EFH). The issues contained in draft

Reef Fish Amendment 18 and the

Council’s preferred alternatives are as

follows:

Federal Register / Vol. 66, No. 103 / Tuesday, May 29, 2001 / Notices 29095

• Longline and buoy gear endorsement

(Section 6.1.1):

6.1.1.1 Establish a longline/buoy gear

endorsement– [No Preferred Alternative

Selected]

6.1.1.2 Transferability of

endorsement– Fully transferable

6.1.1.3 Appeals board– Appeals to be

handled by NMFS

• Longline and buoy gear boundary line

(Section 6.1.2)– [No Preferred

Alternative Selected]

• Longline and buoy gear phase–out

(Section 6.1.3)– [No Preferred

Alternative Selected]

• Use of powerheads when spearfishing

(Section 6.2): Require a permit for the

use of powerheads when reef fish

fishing (both commercially and

recreationally), and eliminate the

regulatory exemption that allows the

use of powerheads in the stressed area

for harvest of sand perch, dwarf sand

perch, and hogfish.

• Use of reef fish for bait (Section 7.0):

Prohibit the use of all species in the reef

fish management unit or parts thereof,

except sand perch and dwarf sand

perch, with any gear for bait. (No

preferred alternative on whether to

apply this provision to commercial

fishing, recreational fishing, or both.)

Vessel monitoring system (Section 8.0):

Require fishing vessels engaged in the

bottom (reef fish) longline fishery to be

equipped with an electronic vessel

monitoring system (VMS), with the cost

of the vessel equipment, installation,

maintenance, and month-to-month

communications to be paid or arranged

by the owners as appropriate. NMFS

will maintain and will publish in the

Federal Register a list of type-approved

units and communications protocols.

• Dormant reef fish permits (Section

9.0)– [No Preferred Alternative Selected]

• Red grouper rebuilding plan (Section

10.0):

• 10.1 Red Grouper Sustainable Fishing

Parameters: Set red grouper maximum

sustainable yield (MSY), fishing

mortality rate at MSY (FMSY), and

spawning stock biomass proxy at MSY

(SSMSY) at the range of values

estimated by the Reef Fish Stock

Assessment Panel, MSY = 6.705 to 7.012

million pounds; FMSY = 0.223 to 0.270;

SSMSY = 350.7 to 433.2 million grams

female gonad weight.

10.2 Red Grouper Minimum Stock

Size Threshold (MSST): Red grouper

minimum stock size threshold (MSST)

shall be 80% of SSMSY (280.6 to 346.6

million grams female gonad weight).

10.3 Red Grouper Maximum Fishing

Mortality Threshold (MFMT): Red

grouper maximum fishing mortality

threshold (MFMT) shall be FMSY (0.223

to 0.270), or the F consistent with

recovery to the MSY level in no more

than 10 years.

10.4 Red Grouper Optimum Yield

(OY): Red grouper optimum yield (OY)

shall be 90% of MSY (6.035 to 6.311

million pounds).

10.5 Red Grouper Rebuilding Strategy:

Adopt a 10-year red grouper rebuilding

plan based on a constant catch strategy.

The annual ABC during the rebuilding

period is initially set at 4.3-5.2 million

pounds. (This is a reduction of 21%–

34% from the 1996–99 average landings

of 6.6 million pounds.) This ABC range

may be modified following a future

stock assessment by a regulatory

amendment or plan amendment.

10.6 Commercial Shallow-Water

Grouper Closed Seasons– [No Preferred

Alternative Selected]

10.7 Recreational Closed Seasons–

[No Preferred Alternative Selected]

10.8 Commercial Grouper Trip

Limits– [No Preferred Alternative

Selected]

10.9 Recreational Grouper Bag

Limits– [No Preferred Alternative

Selected]

10.10 Closed Areas– [No Preferred

Alternative Selected]

Tilefish and Deep-Water Grouper

(Section 11.0): Combine tilefish and

deep-water grouper into a new deep–

water reef fish aggregate, and set the

new deep-water reef fish quota at 1.47

million pounds (which is the average

annual harvest of tilefish and deepwater grouper from 1996–99).

• Changes to the reef fish management

unit (Section 12.0): Add the following

species to the management unit: a.

Marbled grouper (Epinephelus inermis)

- to the shallow-water aggregate, b. Sand

tilefish (Malacanthus plumieri)

• Modifications to the Framework

Procedure for Setting Total Allowable

Catch (TAC) (Section 13.0): The primary

modification is to allow a species TAC

and commercial-to-recreational

allocation to be set for an individual

species within an aggregate (such as the

shallow-water grouper aggregate) that

differs from the aggregate allocation,

provided the aggregate allocation

remains as specified. A second

modification allows NMFS stock

assessments to report the status of

stocks in terms of biomass or biomass

proxy instead of spawning potential

ratio (SPR).

Although other non-emergency issues

not on the agenda may come before the

SSC/AP for discussion, in accordance

with the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery

Conservation and Management Act,

those issues may not be the subject of

formal action during these meetings.

Actions of the SSC/AP will be restricted

to those issues specifically identified in

the agendas and any issues arising after

publication of this notice that require

emergency action under Section 305(c)

of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, provided

the public has been notified of the

Council’s intent to take action to

address the emergency.

Copies of the agenda can be obtained

by calling 813–228–2815.

Special Accommodations

This meeting is physically accessible

to people with disabilities. Requests for

sign language interpretation or other

auxiliary aids should be directed to

Anne Alford at the Council (see

ADDRESSES) by June 5, 2001.

Dated: May 23, 2001.

Richard W. Surdi,

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service.

[FR Doc. 01–13437 Filed 5–25–01; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atmospheric

Administration

[I.D. 052201B]

New England Fishery Management

Council; Public Meetings

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 public meeting of its Joint

Groundfish Oversight Committee, Ad

Hoc Capacity Committee and

Groundfish Advisory Panel in June

2001. Recommendations from these

committees will be brought to the full

Council for formal consideration and

action, if appropriate.

DATES: The meeting will held on

Tuesday, June 12, 2001, at 9:30 a.m.

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at

the Providence Biltmore, Kennedy

Plaza, Providence, RI 02903; telephone:

(401) 421–0700.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul

J. Howard, Executive Director, New

England Fishery Management Council;

(978) 465–0492.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: There is a

concern that fishing effort may increase

in the groundfish fishery, threatening

recent improvements in stock condition.

The Groundfish Oversight Committee,

Groundfish Advisory Panel, and Ad Hoc

Capacity Committee will meet to review

issues concerning latent effort and