61940 Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 207 / Thursday, October 27, 2005 / Notices 

Special Accommodations 

This meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to Paul 

J. Howard (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 

days prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: October 21, 2005. 

Emily Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E5–5959 Filed 10–26–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 102105C] 

New England Fishery Management 

Council; Public Meeting 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; committee meeting. 

SUMMARY: The New England Fishery 

Management Council’s (Council) 

Habitat/Marine Protected Area (MPA) 

Oversight Committee will meet to 

consider actions affecting New England 

fisheries in the exclusive economic zone 

(EEZ). 

DATES: The meeting will be held on 

Monday, November 14, 2005, from 9:30 

a.m. to 5 p.m. 

ADDRESSES: The meeting will be held at 

the Holiday Inn, 31 Hampshire Street, 

Mansfield, MA 02048; telephone: 

(508)339–2200. 

Council address: New England 

Fishery Management Council, 50 Water 

Street, Mill 2, Newburyport, MA 01950. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul 

J. Howard, Executive Director, New 

England Fishery Management Council; 

telephone: (978)465–0492. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The items 

of discussion in the committee’s agenda 

are as follows: 

1. The Committee will continue work 

on elements of the Essential Fish 

Habitat (EFH) Omnibus Amendment 2 

including, but not limited to, 

consideration of Advisory Panel gear 

descriptions; review and refinement of 

EFH designations; consideration of 

Habitat Areas of Particular Concern and 

review and consideration of comments 

received on modified notice of intent. 

2. The Committee may review the 

Ecosystem Workshop results. 

3. The Committee will be briefed on 

the proposed non-fishing projects that 

may adversely effect EFH. 

4. The Committee may consider other 

topics at their discretion. 

Although non-emergency issues not 

contained in this agenda may come 

before this group for discussion, those 

issues may not be the subject of formal 

action during this meeting. Action will 

be restricted to those issues specifically 

identified in this notice and any issues 

arising after publication of this notice 

that require emergency action under 

section 305(c) of the Magnuson-Stevens 

Fishery Conservation and Management 

Act, provided the public has been 

notified of the Council’s intent to take 

final action to address the emergency. 

Special Accommodations 

This meeting is physically accessible 

to people with disabilities. Requests for 

sign language interpretation or other 

auxiliary aids should be directed to Paul 

J. Howard (see ADDRESSES) at least 5 

days prior to the meeting date. 

Dated: October 21, 2005. 

Emily Menashes, 

Acting Director, Office of Sustainable 

Fisheries, National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. E5–5960 Filed 10–26–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 101905A] 

Endangered Species; File No. 1518 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Notice; receipt of application for 

modification of a scientific research 

permit. 

SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that 

Carlos Diez, Departamento de Recursos 

Naturales y Abmientales de Puerto Rico, 

P.O. Box 9066600, San Juan, Puerto Rico 

00906–6600, has requested a 

modification to scientific research 

Permit No. 1518. 

DATES: Written, telefaxed, or e-mail 

comments must be received on or before 

November 28, 2005. 

ADDRESSES: The modification request 

and related documents are available for 

review upon written request or by 

appointment in the following office(s): 

Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910; phone 

(301)713–2289; fax (301)427–2521; and 

Southeast Region, NMFS, 263 13th 

Ave South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701; 

phone (727)824–5312; fax (727)824–

5309; 

Written comments or requests for a 

public hearing on this request should be 

submitted to the Chief, Permits, 

Conservation and Education Division, 

F/PR1, Office of Protected Resources, 

NMFS, 1315 East-West Highway, Room 

13705, Silver Spring, MD 20910. Those 

individuals requesting a hearing should 

set forth the specific reasons why a 

hearing on this particular modification 

request would be appropriate. 

Comments may also be submitted by 

facsimile at (301)427–2521, provided 

the facsimile is confirmed by hard copy 

submitted by mail and postmarked no 

later than the closing date of the 

comment period. 

Comments may also be submitted by 

e-mail. The mailbox address for 

providing email comments is 

NMFS.Pr1Comments@noaa.gov. Include 

in the subject line of the e-mail 

comment the following document 

identifier: File No. 1518. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Patrick Opay or Kate Swails, (301)713–

2289. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

subject modification to Permit No. 1518, 

issued on August 15, 2005 (70 FR 

47813), is requested under the authority 

of the Endangered Species Act of 1973, 

as amended (16 U.S.C. 1531 et seq.) and 

the regulations governing the taking, 

importing, and exporting of endangered 

and threatened species (50 CFR 222–

226). 

Permit No. 1518 currently authorizes 

the permit holder to study green and 

hawksbill sea turtles. The purpose of the 

research is to identify marine habitat, 

determine distribution and abundance, 

determine sex ratios, evaluate the extent 

of ingestion of marine debris, determine 

growth rates and sexual maturity, and 

quantify threats. Mr. Diez will annually 

capture up to 320 hawksbill and 250 

green sea turtles by hand or 

entanglement net. All turtles will be 

measured, weighed, tagged, and blood 

sampled. A subset of animals will be 

lavaged and have transmitters attached 

to them. One leatherback sea turtle 

could be incidentally captured during 

the course of the studies but would be 

released alive. The permit is issued for 

5 years. The permit holder requests a 

modification to the permit that would 

allow skin biopsy of 190 green and 

hawksbill sea turtles. A subset of 10 

green turtles would undergo 

Federal Register / Vol. 70, No. 207 / Thursday, October 27, 2005 / Notices 61941 

fibropapillomatosis tumor removal 

surgery and subsequent rehabilitation. 

In the case that a turtle has evidence 

of severe internal tumors, the turtle 

would be euthanized. The applicant 

does not expect that more than 2 turtles 

would require euthanasia. The goal of 

the additional research would be to 

create baseline parameters of health 

assessments, determine groups’

heterogenity and dispersal, and provide 

insight into the pathogenesis of the 

disease in the wild through the use of 

long-term capture and release surveys. 

Dated: October 20, 2005. 

Stephen L. Leathery, 

Chief, Permits, Conservation and Education 

Division, Office of Protected Resources, 

National Marine Fisheries Service. 

[FR Doc. 05–21487 Filed 10–26–05; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3510–22–S 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

[I.D. 082605B] 

Vessel Monitoring Systems (VMS); 

Specification of Requirements for 

Mobile Transmitting Unit Type 

Approval 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Revision of type approval 

requirements for mobile transmitting 

units. 

SUMMARY: This document provides 

notice of type approval requirements for 

Mobile Transmitting Units (MTU) to be 

authorized for use on any vessel 

participating in the NOAA Vessel 

Monitoring System (VMS ) program. 

Vessels participating in VMS programs 

must acquire an OLE - approved MTU 

to comply with VMS standards set forth 

in NMFS rules requiring the use of 

VMS. 

ADDRESSES: To obtain copies of the list 

of NOAA-approved VMS MTU and 

VMS communications service providers, 

or to obtain information regarding the 

status of VMS systems being evaluated 

by NOAA, write to NOAA Fisheries, 

Office for Law Enforcement (OLE), 8484 

Georgia Avenue, Suite 415, Silver 

Spring, MD 20910. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

current listing information contact Mark 

Oswell, Outreach Specialist, or for 

questions regarding VMS installation 

and status of evaluations contact 

Jonathan Pinkerton, National VMS 

Program Manager by phone: 301–427–

2300 or by fax: 301–427–2055. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

notice supersedes all previous notices 

on MTU type approval requirements. 

Previously installed MTU approved 

under prior notices will continue to be 

approved for the remainder of their 

service life. New installations of a 

previously approved MTU occurring 

120 days or more after the publication 

date of this notice must comply with all 

of the requirements herein. All new 

requests for type approval must comply 

with all of the requirements herein. 

Background 

The Department of Commerce, 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration, National Marine 

Fisheries Service, Office for Law 

Enforcement (OLE) maintains MTU 

specification requirements as an OLE 

National Directive. This notice sets 

prerequisite standards for the purpose of 

type approval that must be met by an 

MTU and any associated software before 

it is authorized for use in the NOAA 

VMS program. Vessels participating in 

VMS programs must acquire an OLEapproved MTU to comply with the 

specific VMS standards set forth in 

NMFS rules requiring the use of VMS. 

The MTU is a transceiver or 

communications device, including 

antennae, installed on fishing vessels 

participating in the VMS requirement. 

The MTU allows OLE to determine the 

geographic position of the vessel during 

specified intervals or events. In 

addition, it enables mobile 

communications services between OLE 

and the vessel when using an OLEaccepted Mobile Communication 

Service Provider (MCSP). (Note: 

Standards for the MCSP are written in 

the complementary directive titled 

Mobile Communication Service 

Provider Specification of Requirements.) 

Goal 

OLE seeks to deploy an ‘‘open 

system,’’ whereby the fishing industry 

participants may select from a variety of 

suppliers that qualify and have been 

approved to participate in VMS 

programs. Fishermen must comply with 

their Federal fishery regulations 

regarding VMS and therefore may be 

cited for a violation and held 

accountable for monitoring anomalies 

not attributable to faults in the MCSP or 

MTU. Therefore, type approval is 

essential to establish and maintain 

uniformly high system integrity. By this 

directive, OLE seeks to approve reliable, 

robust, and secure MTU products and 

thereby create and maintain a VMS 

meeting the requirement of high 

integrity. Specific VMS programs are 

created to support particular NMFS 

rules requiring the use of VMS, which 

typically are designed to manage or 

protect fish and other marine species 

within designated areas. 

Process 

Based on a request for type approval 

from an MTU supplier and certification 

of certain minimal standards, OLE will 

conduct a thorough evaluation and then 

issue a statement accepting or denying 

the type approval of the particular MTU. 

An MTU must meet the minimal 

national VMS standards, as required by 

this directive, and the requirements of 

the specific fisheries for which approval 

is sought. MTU supplier requestors are 

encouraged to review the national VMS 

standards and NMFS rules requiring the 

use of VMS prior to submitting a request 

for approval. Upon successful 

demonstration of compliance with the 

requirements set forth in this directive, 

OLE will issue an MTU type approval 

within a particular communications 

Class applicable to one or more VMS 

operations targeting particular NMFS 

rules requiring the use of VMS. OLE 

will maintain a current list of type 

approved MTU(s). OLE will forward 

lists of type approved MTU(s) to the 

respective regional Fisheries 

Management Council(s), post the 

information on the OLE website and 

provide it by fax upon request. 

OLE approval will not necessarily 

result in NMFS procurement of the 

MTU. Instead, OLE will request the 

MTU supplier to provide a fact sheet to 

provide information to the fishing 

industry. This fact sheet will allow 

fishermen to make purchase decisions 

that are compatible with the VMS 

standards and their individual needs. 

Purchasing strategies are determined on 

a per rule implementation basis. 

Initiation 

OLE will initiate the MTU type 

approval process upon written request 

from the supplier, subject to the 

demonstration of compliance with this 

directive and the availability of test 

units. The requestor for type approval, 

may include the manufacturer, or an 

OEM/labeler, distributor, and/or reseller 

acting as a representative of the 

manufacturer. The evaluation may 

include consideration if that MTU has 

already passed a comparable type 

approval process to qualify for use in a 

foreign fisheries management effort. If 

applicable, the supplier should provide 

the MTU’s identifying characteristics, 

the details of foreign VMS requirement 

specifications, the MTU’s level of 

compliance with them, and appropriate