Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 127 / Tuesday, July 5, 2022 / Notices 39805 

administrative record and may be 

released to the public. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by NOAA–NMFS–2012– 

0104–0454, by any of the following 

methods: 

Electronic Submissions: Submit all 

electronic public comments via the 

Federal eRulemaking Portal https://

www.regulations.gov. 

—OR— 

Email: Submit electronic public 

comments via the following NMFS 

email address: makah2022sdeis.wcr@

noaa.gov. 

—OR— 

Mail: Submit written comments to: 

Grace Ferrara, NMFS West Coast 

Region, 7600 Sand Point Way NE, 

Seattle, WA 98115. 

Instructions: All comments received 

are a part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to https://

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All Personal Identifying Information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit Confidential Business 

Information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. 

NMFS will accept anonymous 

comments (enter N/A in the required 

fields, if you wish to remain 

anonymous). You may submit 

attachments to electronic comments in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 

Adobe PDF file formats only. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Grace Ferrara, NMFS Northwest Region, 

(206) 526–6172, makah2022sdeis.wcr@

noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The SDEIS 

is available in electronic form on the 

internet at the following address: 

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/westcoast/marine-mammal-protection/ 

makah-tribal-whale-hunt. In addition, 

copies of the SDEIS are available on CD 

by contacting Grace Ferrara (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

Background 

On July 1, 2022, the U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency 

announced the availability of NMFS’ 

SDEIS concerning the Makah Indian 

Tribe’s February 2005 request to resume 

limited hunting of ENP gray whales in 

the coastal portion of the Tribe’s usual 

and accustomed fishing grounds, off the 

coast of Washington State, for 

ceremonial and subsistence purposes. 

Informed by information received 

during public scoping and public 

comments on a DEIS released on March 

13, 2015 (80 FR 13373), this SDEIS 

contains updates and evaluates a 

composite alternative composed of 

elements of the alternatives analyzed in 

the 2015 DEIS. The SDEIS also 

incorporates information presented at a 

5-day hearing on this matter, held before 

an administrative law judge (ALJ) in 

November 2019, as well as 

recommendations provided in the ALJ’s 

Recommended Decision. The Tribe’s 

proposed action stems from the 1855 

Treaty of Neah Bay, which expressly 

secures the Makah Tribe’s right to hunt 

whales. To exercise that right, the Tribe 

is seeking authorization from NMFS 

under the MMPA and the Whaling 

Convention Act. The release of this 

SDEIS is one of several steps NMFS will 

undertake to evaluate the Tribe’s 

request. 

The SDEIS, prepared pursuant to the 

NEPA, separately evaluates an 

additional action alternative that was 

derived from other action alternatives 

analyzed in the DEIS and the ALJ’s 

recommended decision. It also provides 

recent updates on the affected 

environment and the environmental 

impacts associated with NMFS’ 

proposed hunt plan as set forth in the 

new composite alternative. The 

composite alternative—identified in the 

SDEIS as the Preferred Alternative— 

includes many of the same principal 

components of the other action 

alternatives, including: restrictions on 

the time when whale hunting would 

occur; annual limits on the number of 

whales harvested, struck, and struck 

and lost; cessation of whale hunting if 

a predetermined number of identified 

whales (i.e., whales included in a 

photographic catalog of whales from the 

Pacific Coast Feeding Group area) were 

harvested; and the method of hunting. 

The Preferred Alternative also limits the 

duration of the waiver period to ten 

years. This SDEIS addresses a number of 

resources identified for review during 

both internal and public scoping for the 

DEIS, including: water quality, marine 

habitat and species, eastern and western 

North Pacific gray whales, other wildlife 

species, economics, environmental 

justice, social environment, cultural 

resources, ceremonial and subsistence 

resources, noise, aesthetics, 

transportation, public services, public 

safety, and human health. 

The SDEIS provides an important 

opportunity for the public to formally 

comment on the preferred alternative. 

These comments, in conjunction with 

considerations described in the DEIS 

and SDEIS, will provide key 

information to assist NMFS with its 

final decision on the Tribe’s request. 

Authority: The environmental review 

of the Makah Tribe’s request to resume 

treaty-based hunting of ENP gray whales 

will be conducted under the authority 

and in accordance with the 

requirements of the NEPA of 1969 as 

amended (42 U.S.C. 4321 et seq.), 

Council on Environmental Quality 

Regulations (40 CFR parts 1500–1508), 

the MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361–1421h), 

other applicable Federal laws and 

regulations, and policies and procedures 

of NMFS for compliance with those 

regulations. 

Dated: June 29, 2022. 

Jennifer M. Wallace, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–14245 Filed 7–1–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC150] 

Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management 

Council (MAFMC); Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; public meeting. 

SUMMARY: The Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council’s (MAFMC) 

Bluefish Monitoring Committee (MC) 

will hold a public meeting. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Wednesday, July 27, 2022, from 9 a.m. 

to 12 p.m. For agenda details, see 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held 

via webinar. Webinar connection, 

agenda items, and any additional 

information will be available at 

www.mafmc.org/council-events. 

Council address: Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, 800 N State 

Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901; 

telephone: (302) 674–2331 or on their 

website at www.mafmc.org. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Christopher M. Moore, Ph.D., Executive 

Director, Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, telephone: (302) 

526–5255. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

purpose of this meeting is for the 

Monitoring Committee to review 2023 

commercial and recreational 

management measures and recommend 

any changes if necessary. To inform 

their recommendations, the MC will 

review recent catch and landings 

information, the Fishery Performance 

Report developed by the Advisory 


lotter on DSK11XQN23PROD with NOTICES1
39806 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 127 / Tuesday, July 5, 2022 / Notices 

Panel, the 2023 ABC recommendation 

by the SSC, and other relevant 

information. 

Special Accommodations 

The meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to 

Shelley Spedden at the Council Office, 

(302) 526–5251, at least 5 days prior to 

the meeting date. 

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

Dated: June 29, 2022. 

Tracey L. Thompson, 

Acting Deputy Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–14259 Filed 7–1–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–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; National Sea Turtle Stranding 

and Salvage Network Stranding and 

Gear Interaction Data Collection 

AGENCY: National Oceanic & 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of information collection, 

request for comment. 

SUMMARY: The Department of 

Commerce, in accordance with the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(PRA), invites 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. The purpose of this 

notice is to allow for 60 days of public 

comment preceding submission of the 

collection to OMB. 

DATES: To ensure consideration, 

comments regarding this proposed 

information collection must be received 

on or before September 6, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: Interested persons are 

invited to submit written comments to 

Adrienne Thomas, NOAA PRA Officer, 

at NOAA.PRA@noaa.gov. Please 

reference OMB Control Number 0648– 

0496 in the subject line of your 

comments. Do not submit Confidential 

Business Information or otherwise 

sensitive or protected information. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

specific questions related to collection 

activities should be directed to Wendy 

Piniak, Biologist, NOAA National 

Marine Fisheries Service, Office of 

Protected Resources, 1315 East-West 

Highway, Silver Spring, Maryland 

20910; (301) 427–8402, wendy.piniak@

noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Abstract 

This is a request for revision and 

extension of collection 0648–0496 

entitled ‘‘Reporting of Sea Turtle 

Entanglement in Fishing Gear or Marine 

Debris’’. We request to revise the name 

of the collection to ‘‘National Sea Turtle 

Stranding and Salvage Network 

Stranding and Gear Interaction Data 

Collection’’ and to add new forms to the 

collection to be inclusive of all forms 

used by Sea Turtle Stranding and 

Salvage Network (STSSN). 

NOAA’s National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS) and the U.S. Fish and 

Wildlife Service (USFWS) share federal 

jurisdiction for the conservation and 

recovery of sea turtles. In accordance 

with the 1977 Memorandum of 

Understanding between NMFS and 

USFWS, which was reaffirmed in 2015, 

NMFS serves as the lead for and 

coordinator of the STSSN. The STSSN 

currently responds to and documents, 

sick, injured, and dead (i.e., ‘stranded’) 

sea turtles that are found in coastal areas 

under U.S. jurisdiction along the 

Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. 

NMFS Office of Protected Resources 

coordinates the STSSN. The Sea Turtle 

Disentanglement Network (STDN) is a 

part of the STSSN. The STSSN is a 

cooperative effort of authorized federal, 

state, and private partners working to 

inform causes of morbidity and 

mortality in sea turtles by responding to 

and documenting stranded sea turtles. 

Information is collected in a manner 

sufficient to inform sea turtle 

conservation management and recovery. 

The STSSN accomplishes this through 

(1) collection of data in accordance with 

STSSN protocols; (2) improved 

understanding of causes of death and 

threats to sea turtles; (3) monitoring of 

stranding trends; (4) provision of initial 

aid to live stranded sea turtles; (5) 

provision of sea turtle samples/parts for 

conservation-relevant research; and (6) 

availability of timely data for 

conservation management purposes. To 

facilitate this data collection, the STSSN 

uses several standardized data 

collection forms. To ensure all data 

collected by the STSSN are in the same 

collection, we propose adding the 

following forms to 0648–0496: STSSN 

Stranding Report form, Gross Necropsy 

forms (2 page and 4 page versions), Cold 

Stun individual and batch forms, 

Fishing Gear Identification forms, and 

Incidental Capture Intake form 

(currently approved in collection 0648– 

0774, expiring December 31, 2024). 

All species of sea turtle found in U.S. 

waters are listed as endangered or 

threatened under the Endangered 

Species Act (ESA). NMFS and the 

USFWS share federal jurisdiction for the 

conservation and recovery of sea turtles. 

Section 4(f) of the ESA (16 U.S.C. 1531– 

1544) provides for the creation of 

Recovery Plans for endangered and 

threatened species and provides NMFS 

and USFWS with authority ‘‘to procure 

the services of appropriate public and 

private agencies and institutions and 

other qualified persons’’ in order to 

implement those plans. To advance the 

conservation and recovery of listed sea 

turtles, each sea turtle recovery plan 

developed jointly by NMFS and USFWS 

identifies and highlights the need to 

maintain an active stranding network. 

Both NMFS and USFWS have 

promulgated regulations that provide an 

exception to the prohibitions on take 

and allow for coordinated response to 

stranded sea turtles in water and on 

land, based on their specific 

jurisdictional responsibility. 

II. Method of Collection 

Data will be collected using the 

following methods: paper format, 

electronically (internet), email, or 

interviews. 

III. Data 

OMB Control Number: 0648–0496. 

Form Number(s): None. 

Type of Review: Regular submission, 

revision and extension of approved 

collection. 

Affected Public: Individuals or 

households; Not-for-profit institutions; 

State, Local, or Tribal government; 

Federal government. 

Estimated Number of Respondents: 

750. 

Estimated Time per Response: STSSN 

Stranding Report form: 10 minutes; 

Gross Necropsy form (2 page version): 

10 minutes; Gross Necropsy form (4 

page version): 15 minutes; Cold Stun 

form and Cold Stun batch form: 10 

minutes; Fishing Gear Identification 

forms: 10 minutes; Incidental Capture 

Intake form: 5 minutes; Entanglement 

form: 15 minutes. 

Estimated Total Annual Burden 

Hours: 1,214 annually. 

Estimated Total Annual Cost to 

Public: $100. 

Respondent’s Obligation: Voluntary. 

Legal Authority: Endangered Species 

Act (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.). 


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