41288 Federal Register / Vol. 87, No. 132 / Tuesday, July 12, 2022 / Notices 

11See 19 CFR 351.309(c)(1)(ii). 

12See 19 CFR 351.309(d)(1) and (2); see also 

Temporary Rule Modifying AD/CVD Service 

Requirements Due to COVID–19; Extension of 

Effective Period, 85 FR 41363 (July 10, 2020) 

(Temporary Rule). 

13See 19 CFR 351.309(c) and (d); see also 19 CFR 

351.303 (for general filing requirements). 

14See generally 19 CFR 351.303. 

15See 19 CFR 351.303(f). 

16See Temporary Rule. 

Disclosure and Public Comment 

Commerce intends to disclose the 

calculations for these preliminary 

results within five days of the date of 

publication of this notice, in accordance 

with 19 CFR 351.224(b). Interested 

parties may submit case briefs within 30 

days after the date of publication of 

these preliminary results of review.11

Rebuttal briefs, which must be limited 

to issues raised in the case briefs, may 

be filed not later than seven days after 

the date for filing case briefs.12 Parties 

who submit case or rebuttal briefs in 

this proceeding are requested to submit 

with each argument: (1) a statement of 

the issue; (2) a brief summary of the 

argument; and (3) a table of 

authorities.13 Case and rebuttal briefs 

should be filed using ACCESS 14 and 

must be served on interested parties.15

Executive summaries should be limited 

to five pages total, including footnotes. 

Note that Commerce has temporarily 

modified certain of its requirements for 

serving documents containing business 

proprietary information, until further 

notice.16

Pursuant to 19 CFR 351.310(c), 

interested parties who wish to request a 

hearing, or to participate if one is 

requested, must submit a written 

request to the Assistant Secretary for 

Enforcement and Compliance, filed 

electronically via ACCESS. An 

electronically-filed document must be 

received successfully in its entirety by 

Commerce’s electronic records system, 

ACCESS, by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time 

within 30 days after the date of 

publication of this notice. Requests 

should contain: (1) the party’s name, 

address, and telephone number; (2) the 

number of participants; and (3) a list of 

issues to be discussed. Issues raised in 

the hearing will be limited to those 

raised in the respective case and 

rebuttal briefs. 

Final Results of the Review 

Commerce intends to issue the final 

results of this administrative review, 

which will include the results of our 

analysis of all issues raised in the case 

briefs, not later than 120 days after the 

date of publication of this notice, 

pursuant to section 751(a)(3)(A) of the 

Act and 19 CFR 351.213(h)(1), unless 

otherwise extended. 

Notification to Importers 

This notice also serves as a reminder 

to importers of their responsibility 

under 19 CFR 351.402(f)(2) to file a 

certificate regarding the reimbursement 

of antidumping duties prior to 

liquidation of the relevant entries 

during this review period. Failure to 

comply with this requirement could 

result in Commerce’s presumption that 

reimbursement of antidumping duties 

occurred and the subsequent assessment 

of double antidumping duties. 

Notification to Interested Parties 

We are issuing and publishing these 

results in accordance with sections 

751(a)(1) and 777(i)(1) of the Act, and 19 

CFR 351.213 and 19 CFR 351.221(b)(4). 

Dated: June 30, 2022. 

Ryan Majerus, 

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Policy and 

Negotiation. 

Appendix 

List of Topics Discussed in the Preliminary 

Decision Memorandum 

I. Summary 

II. Background 

III. Scope of the Order 

IV. Discussion of the Methodology 

V. Adjustments under Section 777A(f) of the 

Act 

VI. Currency Conversion 

VII. Recommendation 

[FR Doc. 2022–14790 Filed 7–11–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–DS–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC103] 

Taking and Importing Marine 

Mammals; Taking Marine Mammals 

Incidental to Geophysical Surveys 

Related to Oil and Gas Activities in the 

Gulf of Mexico 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice of issuance of Letter of 

Authorization. 

SUMMARY: In accordance with the 

Marine Mammal Protection Act 

(MMPA), as amended, its implementing 

regulations, and NMFS’ MMPA 

Regulations for Taking Marine 

Mammals Incidental to Geophysical 

Surveys Related to Oil and Gas 

Activities in the Gulf of Mexico, 

notification is hereby given that a Letter 

of Authorization (LOA) has been issued 

to QuarterNorth Energy LLC 

(QuarterNorth) for the take of marine 

mammals incidental to geophysical 

survey activity in the Gulf of Mexico. 

DATES: The LOA is effective from July 1, 

2022, through December 31, 2022. 

ADDRESSES: The LOA, LOA request, and 

supporting documentation are available 

online at: www.fisheries.noaa.gov/ 

action/incidental-take-authorization-oiland-gas-industry-geophysical-surveyactivity-gulf-mexico. In case of problems 

accessing these documents, please call 

the contact listed below (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ben 

Laws, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, (301) 427–8401. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background 

Sections 101(a)(5)(A) and (D) of the 

MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) direct 

the Secretary of Commerce to allow, 

upon request, the incidental, but not 

intentional, taking of small numbers of 

marine mammals by U.S. citizens who 

engage in a specified activity (other than 

commercial fishing) within a specified 

geographical region if certain findings 

are made and either regulations are 

issued or, if the taking is limited to 

harassment, a notice of a proposed 

authorization is provided to the public 

for review. 

An authorization for incidental 

takings shall be granted if NMFS finds 

that the taking will have a negligible 

impact on the species or stock(s), will 

not have an unmitigable adverse impact 

on the availability of the species or 

stock(s) for subsistence uses (where 

relevant), and if the permissible 

methods of taking and requirements 

pertaining to the mitigation, monitoring 

and reporting of such takings are set 

forth. NMFS has defined ‘‘negligible 

impact’’ in 50 CFR 216.103 as an impact 

resulting from the specified activity that 

cannot be reasonably expected to, and is 

not reasonably likely to, adversely affect 

the species or stock through effects on 

annual rates of recruitment or survival. 

Except with respect to certain 

activities not pertinent here, the MMPA 

defines ‘‘harassment’’ as: any act of 

pursuit, torment, or annoyance which (i) 

has the potential to injure a marine 

mammal or marine mammal stock in the 

wild (Level A harassment); or (ii) has 

the potential to disturb a marine 

mammal or marine mammal stock in the 

wild by causing disruption of behavioral 

patterns, including, but not limited to, 

migration, breathing, nursing, breeding, 


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1For purposes of acoustic exposure modeling, the 

GOM was divided into seven zones. Zone 1 is not 

included in the geographic scope of the rule. 

2For purposes of acoustic exposure modeling, 

seasons include Winter (December–March) and 

Summer (April–November). 

feeding, or sheltering (Level B 

harassment). 

On January 19, 2021, we issued a final 

rule with regulations to govern the 

unintentional taking of marine 

mammals incidental to geophysical 

survey activities conducted by oil and 

gas industry operators, and those 

persons authorized to conduct activities 

on their behalf (collectively ‘‘industry 

operators’’), in Federal waters of the 

U.S. Gulf of Mexico (GOM) over the 

course of 5 years (86 FR 5322; January 

19, 2021). The rule was based on our 

findings that the total taking from the 

specified activities over the 5-year 

period will have a negligible impact on 

the affected species or stock(s) of marine 

mammals and will not have an 

unmitigable adverse impact on the 

availability of those species or stocks for 

subsistence uses. The rule became 

effective on April 19, 2021. 

Our regulations at 50 CFR 217.180 et 

seq. allow for the issuance of LOAs to 

industry operators for the incidental 

take of marine mammals during 

geophysical survey activities and 

prescribe the permissible methods of 

taking and other means of effecting the 

least practicable adverse impact on 

marine mammal species or stocks and 

their habitat (often referred to as 

mitigation), as well as requirements 

pertaining to the monitoring and 

reporting of such taking. Under 50 CFR 

217.186(e), issuance of an LOA shall be 

based on a determination that the level 

of taking will be consistent with the 

findings made for the total taking 

allowable under these regulations and a 

determination that the amount of take 

authorized under the LOA is of no more 

than small numbers. 

Summary of Request and Analysis 

QuarterNorth plans to conduct a 

single checkshot velocity survey within 

Green Canyon OCS Lease Block 39. See 

Section 1.1 of QuarterNorth’s 

application for a map. QuarterNorth 

plans to use an 8-element, 1,170 cubic 

inch (in3) airgun array. Please see 

QuarterNorth’s application for 

additional detail. 

Consistent with the preamble to the 

final rule, the survey effort proposed by 

QuarterNorth in its LOA request was 

used to develop LOA-specific take 

estimates based on the acoustic 

exposure modeling results described in 

the preamble (86 FR 5322, 5398; January 

19, 2021). In order to generate the 

appropriate take number for 

authorization, the following information 

was considered: (1) survey type; (2) 

location (by modeling zone 1); (3) 

number of days; and (4) season.2 The 

acoustic exposure modeling performed 

in support of the rule provides 24-hour 

exposure estimates for each species, 

specific to each modeled survey type in 

each zone and season. 

No checkshot velocity surveys were 

included in the modeled survey types, 

and use of existing proxies (i.e., 2D, 3D 

NAZ, 3D WAZ, Coil) is generally 

conservative for use in evaluation of 

these survey types. Summary 

descriptions of these modeled survey 

geometries are available in the preamble 

to the proposed rule (83 FR 29212, 

29220; June 22, 2018). Coil was selected 

as the best available proxy survey type 

for QuarterNorth checkshot survey 

because the spatial coverage of the 

planned surveys is most similar to the 

coil survey pattern. For the planned 

survey, a single checkshot velocity 

survey for the collection of borehole 

seismic data is planned to occur at the 

surface above a well head located in 

approximately 1,923 feet (ft) of water. 

Receivers will be lowered directly into 

the well from a wireline. There will be 

no towing or movement of the airgun 

array, as it will be operated at a static 

location above the well. The coil survey 

pattern in the model was assumed to 

cover approximately 144 kilometers 

squared (km2) per day (compared with 

approximately 795 km2, 199 km2, and 

845 km2 per day for the 2D, 3D NAZ, 

and 3D WAZ survey patterns, 

respectively). Among the different 

parameters of the modeled survey 

patterns (e.g., area covered, line spacing, 

number of sources, shot interval, total 

simulated pulses), NMFS considers area 

covered per day to be most influential 

on daily modeled exposures exceeding 

Level B harassment criteria. Because 

QuarterNorth’s planned survey is 

expected to cover no additional area as 

a stationary source the coil proxy is 

most representative of the effort planned 

by QuarterNorth in terms of predicted 

Level B harassment. 

In addition, all available acoustic 

exposure modeling results assume use 

of a 72-element, 8,000 in3 array. Thus, 

estimated take numbers for this LOA are 

considered conservative due to the 

differences in both the airgun array (8- 

elements, 1,170 in3), and in daily survey 

area planned by QuarterNorth (as 

mentioned above), as compared to those 

modeled for the rule. 

The survey is planned to occur for a 

maximum of 1 day in Zone 5. The 

survey may occur in either season. 

Therefore, the take estimates for each 

species are based on the season that has 

the greater value for the species (i.e., 

winter or summer). 

In this case, use of the exposure 

modeling produces results that are 

smaller than average GOM group sizes 

for multiple species (Maze-Foley and 

Mullin, 2006). NMFS’ typical practice in 

such a situation is to increase exposure 

estimates to the assumed average group 

size for a species in order to ensure that, 

if the species is encountered, exposures 

will not exceed the authorized take 

number. However, other relevant 

considerations here lead to a 

determination that increasing the 

estimated exposures to average group 

sizes would likely lead to an 

overestimate of actual potential take. In 

this circumstance, the very short survey 

duration (six hours over the course of a 

day) and relatively small Level B 

harassment isopleths produced through 

use of the 8-element, 1,170 in3 airgun 

array (compared with the modeled 72- 

element, 8,000 in3 array) mean that it is 

unlikely that certain species would be 

encountered at all, much less that the 

encounter would result in exposure of a 

greater number of individuals than is 

estimated through use of the exposure 

modeling results. As a result, in this 

case NMFS has not increased the 

estimated exposure values to assumed 

average group sizes in authorizing take. 

Based on the results of our analysis, 

NMFS has determined that the level of 

taking authorized through the LOA is 

consistent with the findings made for 

the total taking allowable under the 

regulations. See Table 1 in this notice 

and Table 9 of the rule (86 FR 5322; 

January 19, 2021). 

Small Numbers Determination 

Under the GOM rule, NMFS may not 

authorize incidental take of marine 

mammals in an LOA if it will exceed 

‘‘small numbers.’’ In short, when an 

acceptable estimate of the individual 

marine mammals taken is available, if 

the estimated number of individual 

animals taken is up to, but not greater 

than, one-third of the best available 

abundance estimate, NMFS will 

determine that the numbers of marine 

mammals taken of a species or stock are 

small. For more information please see 

NMFS’ discussion of the MMPA’s small 

numbers requirement provided in the 

final rule (86 FR 5322, 5438; January 19, 

2021). 

The take numbers for authorization, 

which are determined as described 

above, are used by NMFS in making the 


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necessary small numbers 

determinations, through comparison 

with the best available abundance 

estimates (see discussion at 86 FR 5322, 

5391; January 19, 2021). For this 

comparison, NMFS’ approach is to use 

the maximum theoretical population, 

determined through review of current 

stock assessment reports (SAR; 

www.fisheries.noaa.gov/national/ 

marine-mammal-protection/marinemammal-stock-assessments) and modelpredicted abundance information 

(https://seamap.env.duke.edu/models/ 

Duke/GOM/). For the latter, for taxa 

where a density surface model could be 

produced, we use the maximum mean 

seasonal (i.e., 3-month) abundance 

prediction for purposes of comparison 

as a precautionary smoothing of monthto-month fluctuations and in 

consideration of a corresponding lack of 

data in the literature regarding seasonal 

distribution of marine mammals in the 

GOM. Information supporting the small 

numbers determinations is provided in 

Table 1. 

TABLE 1—TAKE ANALYSIS

Species Authorized 

take 1 Abundance 2 Percent 

abundance 

Rice’s whale ................................................................................................................................. 0 51 n/a 

Sperm whale ................................................................................................................................ 26 2,207 1.2 

Kogia spp ..................................................................................................................................... 3 10 4,373 0.2 

Beaked whales ............................................................................................................................ 116 3,768 3.1 

Rough-toothed dolphin ................................................................................................................ 20 4,853 0.4 

Bottlenose dolphin ....................................................................................................................... 95 176,108 0.1 

Clymene dolphin .......................................................................................................................... 56 11,895 0.5 

Atlantic spotted dolphin ............................................................................................................... 38 74,785 0.1 

Pantropical spotted dolphin ......................................................................................................... 255 102,361 0.2 

Spinner dolphin ............................................................................................................................ 68 25,114 0.3 

Striped dolphin ............................................................................................................................. 22 5,229 0.4 

Fraser’s dolphin ........................................................................................................................... 6 1,665 0.4 

Risso’s dolphin ............................................................................................................................. 17 3,764 0.4 

Melon-headed whale ................................................................................................................... 37 7,003 0.5 

Pygmy killer whale ....................................................................................................................... 9 2,126 0.4 

False killer whale ......................................................................................................................... 14 3,204 0.4 

Killer whale .................................................................................................................................. 0 267 n/a 

Short-finned pilot whale ............................................................................................................... 11 1,981 0.5 

1Scalar ratios were not applied in this case due to brief survey duration. 

2Best abundance estimate. For most taxa, the best abundance estimate for purposes of comparison with take estimates is considered here to 

be the model-predicted abundance (Roberts et al., 2016). For those taxa where a density surface model predicting abundance by month was 

produced, the maximum mean seasonal abundance was used. For those taxa where abundance is not predicted by month, only mean annual 

abundance is available. For the killer whale, the larger estimated SAR abundance estimate is used. 3 Includes 1 takes by Level A harassment and 9 takes by Level B harassment. 

Based on the analysis contained 

herein of QuarterNorth’s proposed 

survey activity described in its LOA 

application and the anticipated take of 

marine mammals, NMFS finds that 

small numbers of marine mammals will 

be taken relative to the affected species 

or stock sizes and therefore is of no 

more than small numbers. 

Authorization 

NMFS has determined that the level 

of taking for this LOA request is 

consistent with the findings made for 

the total taking allowable under the 

incidental take regulations and that the 

amount of take authorized under the 

LOA is of no more than small numbers. 

Accordingly, we have issued an LOA to 

QuarterNorth authorizing the take of 

marine mammals incidental to its 

geophysical survey activity, as 

described above. 

Dated: July 5, 2022. 

Kimberly Damon-Randall, 

Director, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 2022–14740 Filed 7–11–22; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[RTID 0648–XC168] 

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 Summer 

Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass 

Monitoring Committee will hold a 

public webinar meeting. 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Thursday, July 28, 2022, from 9 a.m. 

until 1 p.m. EDT. For agenda details, see 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held 

via webinar. Connection information 

will be posted to the calendar prior to 

the meeting at www.mafmc.org. 

Council address: Mid-Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council, 800 N State 

Street, Suite 201, Dover, DE 19901; 

telephone: (302) 674–2331; 

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 

Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea 

Bass Monitoring Committee will meet 

via webinar to review previously 

adopted 2023 commercial and 

recreational Annual Catch Limits, 

Annual Catch Targets, commercial 

quotas, and recreational harvest limits 

for summer flounder, scup, and black 

sea bass and recommend changes as 

appropriate. In addition, the Monitoring 

Committee will review commercial 

management measures for all three 

species and recommend changes if 

needed. During this meeting, the 

Monitoring Committee will consider 

recent fishery performance as well as 

recommendations from the Advisory 

Panel, Scientific and Statistical 

Committee, and Council staff. Meeting 

materials will be posted to 

www.mafmc.org. 


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