22194 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 72 / Thursday, April 14, 2022 / Notices 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XB934] 

Identification of Nations or Entities 

Engaged in Illegal, Unreported, or 

Unregulated Fishing, Bycatch of 

Protected Living Marine Resources, or 

Shark Fishing on the High Seas 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; request for information. 

SUMMARY: NMFS is seeking information 

regarding nations or entities whose 

vessels are engaged in illegal, 

unreported, or unregulated (IUU) 

fishing; fishing practices that result in 

the bycatch of protected living marine 

resources (PLMRs) without a regulatory 

program comparable in effectiveness to 

that of the United States; and/or fishing 

activities in waters beyond any national 

jurisdiction that target or incidentally 

catch sharks without a regulatory 

program comparable to that of the 

United States. Such information will be 

reviewed for the purposes of the 

identification of nations or entities 

pursuant to the High Seas Driftnet 

Fishing Moratorium Protection Act 

(Moratorium Protection Act). 

DATES: Information should be received 

on or before December 31, 2022. 

However, we encourage submission of 

information as early as possible. 

ADDRESSES: Information may be 

submitted either by mail to: NMFS 

Office of International Affairs, Trade, 

and Commerce, Attn.: Moratorium 

Protection Act Information, F/IATC 

1315 East-West Highway, Silver Spring, 

MD 20910, or electronically to: 

IUU.PLMR.Sharks@noaa.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellie 

Bors, phone (240) 429–4461, or email 

eleanor.bors@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

The Moratorium Protection Act 

requires the Secretary of Commerce 

(Secretary) to issue a Biennial Report to 

Congress that identifies nations and 

entities whose vessels are engaged in 

IUU fishing, bycatch of PLMRs, and/or 

fishing activities in waters beyond any 

national jurisdiction that target or 

incidentally catch sharks, in specific 

circumstances elaborated below. NMFS 

is soliciting information from the public 

regarding fishing activities by foreign 

fishing vessels in 2020, 2021, and/or 

2022 that may support identification of 

those nations and entities in the 

Biennial Report. 

The Shark Conservation Act of 2010 

(Pub. L. 111–348) amended the 

Moratorium Protection Act by requiring 

action by the United States to strengthen 

shark conservation globally, including 

the potential identification of nations 

and entities with vessels fishing for 

sharks on the high seas (16 U.S.C. 

1826k(a)(2)). In November 2015, the 

Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated 

Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015 (Pub. 

L. 114–81) further amended the 

Moratorium Protection Act by, among 

other things, expanding the scope of 

information that can be used for the 

identification of nations and entities to 

three years for the IUU fishing and 

bycatch provisions (see 16 U.S.C. 1826j– 

1826k). In December 2016, the Ensuring 

Access to Pacific Fisheries Act (Pub. L. 

114–327) amended the Moratorium 

Protection Act by also expanding the 

scope of information that can be used 

for the identification of nations and 

entities to three years for the shark 

provisions (see 16 U.S.C. 1826k). 

The seventh biennial report to 

Congress was submitted in August 2021 

and is available online at: https://

media.fisheries.noaa.gov/2021-08/ 

2021ReporttoCongresson

ImprovingInternationalFisheries

Management.pdf. The report identified 

seven nations and entities for IUU 

fishing and 29 nations and entities for 

the bycatch of PLMRs without a 

regulatory program comparable in 

effectiveness to that of the United 

States. 

In fulfillment of its requirements 

under the Moratorium Protection Act, 

NMFS is preparing the eighth biennial 

report to Congress, and will consider 

whether information exists to support 

the identification of nations or entities 

whose vessels are engaged in IUU 

fishing; fishing practices that result in 

bycatch of PLMRs without a regulatory 

program comparable in effectiveness to 

that of the United States; and/or fishing 

activities in waters beyond any national 

jurisdiction that target or incidentally 

catch sharks without a regulatory 

program comparable to that of the 

United States. 

IUU Fishing 

The Moratorium Protection Act 

requires the Secretary to identify in a 

biennial report to Congress those 

nations and entities whose fishing 

vessels are engaged, or have been 

engaged at any point during the 

preceding three years, in IUU fishing. 

The definition of IUU fishing can be 

found at 50 CFR 300.201 and includes: 

(1) Fishing activities that violate 

conservation and management measures 

required under an international fishery 

management agreement to which the 

United States is a party, including catch 

limits or quotas, capacity restrictions, 

bycatch reduction requirements, shark 

conservation measures, and data 

reporting; 

(2) In the case of non-parties to an 

international fishery management 

agreement to which the United States is 

a party, fishing activities that would 

undermine the conservation of the 

resources managed under that 

agreement; 

(3) Overfishing of fish stocks shared 

by the United States, for which there are 

no applicable international conservation 

or management measures or in areas 

with no applicable international fishery 

management organization or agreement, 

that has adverse impacts on such stocks; 

(4) Fishing activity that has an 

adverse impact on vulnerable marine 

ecosystems such as seamounts, 

hydrothermal vents, cold water corals 

and other vulnerable marine ecosystems 

located beyond any national 

jurisdiction, for which there are no 

applicable conservation or management 

measures or in areas with no applicable 

international fishery management 

organization or agreement; and 

(5) Fishing activities by foreignflagged vessels in U.S. waters without 

authorization of the United States. 

PLMR Bycatch 

In addition, the Secretary must 

identify in the biennial report those 

nations and entities whose fishing 

vessels are engaged, or have been 

engaged at any point during the 

preceding three years in fishing 

activities in waters beyond any national 

jurisdiction that result in bycatch of a 

PLMR, or beyond the U.S. exclusive 

economic zone (EEZ) that result in 

bycatch of a PLMR shared by the United 

States, and that have not implemented 

measures to address that bycatch that 

are comparable in effectiveness to U.S. 

regulatory requirements. In this context, 

PLMRs are defined as non-target fish 

(including sharks), sea turtles, or marine 

mammals that are protected under U.S. 

law or international agreement, 

including the Marine Mammal 

Protection Act, the Endangered Species 

Act, the Shark Finning Prohibition Act, 

and the Convention on International 

Trade in Endangered Species of Wild 

Flora and Fauna. PLMRs do not include 

species, except sharks, managed under 

the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act, the 

Atlantic Tunas Convention Act, or any 

international fishery management 


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Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 72 / Thursday, April 14, 2022 / Notices 22195 

agreement. A list of species considered 

as PLMRs for the purposes of 

identification under the Moratorium 

Protection Act is available online at: 

https://media.fisheries.noaa.gov/dammigration/plmr_list_2019.pdf. 

Shark Catch in Waters Beyond Any 

National Jurisdiction 

Furthermore, the Moratorium 

Protection Act requires that the 

Secretary identify nations and entities 

in the biennial report to Congress whose 

fishing vessels are engaged, or have 

been engaged during the preceding three 

years in fishing activities or practices in 

waters beyond any national jurisdiction 

that target or incidentally catch sharks 

and when the nation has not adopted a 

regulatory program to provide for the 

conservation of sharks, including 

measures to prohibit removal of any of 

the fins of a shark (including the tail) 

and discarding the carcass of the shark 

at sea, that is comparable to that of the 

United States, taking into account 

different conditions. When determining 

whether to identify nations or entities 

for these activities, NMFS will take into 

account all relevant matters including, 

but not limited to, the history, nature, 

circumstances, duration, and gravity of 

the fishing activity of concern. 

Information Solicited 

NMFS is soliciting information from 

the public that could be relevant to the 

identification of nations and entities 

engaged in activities that meet the 

criteria described above for IUU fishing, 

PLMR bycatch, or shark catch in waters 

beyond any national jurisdiction. Some 

types of information that may prove 

relevant to the process include: 

• Documentation (photographs, 

verifiable catch data, etc.) of IUU fishing 

activity, fishing vessels engaged in 

PLMR bycatch, or catch of sharks on the 

high seas; 

• Documentation (photographs, etc.) 

of fishing vessels engaged in bycatch of 

shared PLMRs in any waters beyond the 

U.S. EEZ; 

• Documentation (photos, video, 

witness testimony, publicly available 

data, etc.) of illegal shark fishing in 

contravention of shark conservation and 

management measures adopted by 

Regional Fisheries Management 

Organizations (RFMOs) to which the 

United States is a Party (shark finning 

without full utilization of the carcass, 

non-reporting of shark catch, retention 

of prohibited shark species, etc.); 

• Reports from off-loading facilities, 

port-side government officials, 

enforcement agents, military personnel, 

port inspectors, transshipment vessel 

workers and fish importers; 

• Sightings of vessels included on 

RFMO IUU vessel lists; 

• RFMO catch documents and 

statistical document programs; 

• Nations’ domestic regulations for 

bycatch and shark conservation and 

management, including any regulations 

that prohibit the removal of any of the 

fins of a shark (including the tail) and 

discarding the carcass of the shark at 

sea; 

• Action or inaction at the national 

level, resulting in non-compliance with 

RFMO conservation and management 

measures, such as exceeding quotas or 

catch limits, or failing to report or 

misreporting data of the nation’s fishing 

activities; and 

• Relevant reports from governments, 

international organizations, or 

nongovernmental organizations. 

NMFS will consider all available 

information, as appropriate, when 

making a determination whether or not 

to identify a particular nation or entity 

in the biennial report to Congress. As 

stated previously, NMFS is limited in 

the time frame for data it may use as the 

basis of a nation’s identification. 

Appropriate information includes IUU 

fishing activity, bycatch of PLMRs, and 

shark fishing activity in waters beyond 

any national jurisdiction that occurred 

in 2020, 2021, and 2022. Information 

should be as specific as possible as this 

will assist NMFS in its review. NMFS 

will consider several criteria when 

determining whether information is 

appropriate for use in making 

identifications, including but not 

limited to: 

• Corroboration of information; 

• Whether multiple sources have 

been able to provide information in 

support of an identification; 

• The methodology used to collect 

the information; 

• Specificity of the information 

provided; 

• Susceptibility of the information to 

falsification and alteration; 

• Credibility of the individuals or 

organization providing the information; 

and 

• Ability to share the provided 

information with a nation or entity in 

the event that it is identified, so that the 

nation can take specific corrective 

actions. 

More information regarding the 

identification process and how the 

information received will be used in 

that process can be found at 16 U.S.C. 

1826j–1826k and in the regulations 

codified at 50 CFR 300.200 et seq. Note 

that the timeframe for activities to be 

considered for IUU fishing, bycatch, and 

shark identifications has not yet been 

changed in the implementing 

regulations to reflect the amendments in 

the Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated 

Fishing Enforcement Act of 2015 and 

the Ensuring Access to Pacific Fisheries 

Act of 2016, which extend the 

timeframe to three years in each case. 

Such conforming amendments to the 

implementing regulations are under 

development. 

Dated: April 8, 2022. 

Alexa Cole, 

Director, Office of International Affairs, 

Trade, and Commerce, National Marine 

Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–07944 Filed 4–13–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE 

Department of the Air Force 

Notice of Intent To Prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement 

Addressing the KC–46A Main 

Operating Base #6 (MOB 6) Beddown 

at MacDill Air Force Base, Florida or 

Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington 

AGENCY: Department of the Air Force, 

Department of Defense. 

ACTION: Notice of intent. 

SUMMARY: The Department of the Air 

Force (DAF) is issuing this Notice of 

Intent (NOI) to prepare an 

Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) 

to assess the potential social, economic, 

and environmental impacts associated 

with the KC–46A Main Operating Base 

#6 (MOB 6) Beddown. The DAF is 

proposing to beddown KC–46A tanker 

aircraft, personnel, and associated 

infrastructure in support of the MOB 6 

mission at MacDill Air Force Base 

(AFB), Florida, or, as an alternative, 

Fairchild AFB in Washington State. 

DATES: A public scoping period of 30 

days will take place starting from the 

date of this NOI publication in the 

Federal Register. Identification of 

potential alternatives, information, and 

analyses relevant to the proposed action 

are requested and will be accepted at 

any time during the EIS process. To 

ensure DAF has sufficient time to 

consider public input in the preparation 

of the Draft EIS, scoping comments 

should be submitted in writing to the 

website or the address listed below 

within the 30-day scoping period. The 

Draft EIS is anticipated in Winter 2022/ 

2023 and the Final EIS is anticipated in 

Fall 2023. The Record of Decision 

would be approved and signed 30 days 

after the Final EIS. 

ADDRESSES: Scoping comments may be 

submitted to Helen Kellogg, AFCEC/ 


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